| Event: | 2018 ITTF Men's World Cup |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Venue: | Disneyland Paris |
| Location: | Paris, France |
| Date: | 19–21 October |
| Competitors: | 20 |
| Nations: | 14 |
| Website: | tt2018paris.com |
| Gold: |  Fan Zhendong |
| Silver: | Timo Boll |
| Bronze: | Lin Gaoyuan |
| Previous: | 2017 |
| Next: | 2019 |
The 2018 ITTF Men's World Cup was a table tennis competition held in Paris, France, from 19 to 21 October 2018. It was the 39th edition of the ITTF-sanctioned event, and the third time that it had been staged in Paris.[1]
In the final, China's Fan Zhendong defeated Timo Boll of Germany, 4–1, to win his second World Cup title.[2]
In total, 20 players qualified for the World Cup:[3] [4]
A maximum of two players from each association could qualify.
As reigning World Champion, China's Ma Long was invited to take part, but withdrew prior to the event. His place was taken by Lin Gaoyuan.[5]
| width=250 | Means of qualification ! | width=150 | Date ! | width=150 | Venue ! | width=50 | Places ! | width=220 | Qualified players |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3–4 February 2018 | 3 | Timo Boll Dimitrij Ovtcharov Jonathan Groth | |||||||
| 2018 ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup | 1–3 March 2018 | 1 | Quadri Aruna | ||||||
| 6–8 April 2018 | 3 | Fan Zhendong Lin Gaoyuan Lee Sang-su | |||||||
| 18–19 May 2018 | 1 |  Hu Heming | |||||||
| 15–17 June 2018 | 2 |  Hugo Calderano Gustavo Tsuboi | |||||||
| Additional qualifiers | n/a | n/a | 8 | Jeong Sang-eun Tomokazu Harimoto Koki Niwa Wong Chun Ting Vladimir Samsonov Mattias Falck Kanak JhaPanagiotis Gionis | |||||
| Host association representative | n/a | n/a | 1 |  Simon Gauzy | |||||
| ITTF wild card | n/a | n/a | 1 | Emmanuel Lebesson | |||||
| Total | 20 | ||||||||
The tournament consisted of two stages: a preliminary group stage and a knockout stage. The players seeded 9 to 20 were drawn into four groups, with three players in each group. The top two players from each group joined the top eight seeded players in the second stage of the competition, which consisted of a knockout draw.[3]
The seeding list was based on the official ITTF world ranking for October 2018.[3]
The preliminary group stage took place on 19 October, with the top two players in each group progressing to the main draw.[6]
| Group A | Samsonov | Lebesson | Calderano | Points | ||||
| 15 | V. Samsonov | 4–2 | 4–1 | 4 | ||||
| 17 | E. Lebesson | 2–4 | 4–3 | 3 | ||||
| 9 | Hugo Calderano | 1–4 | 3–4 | 2 |
| Group B | Gauzy | Jha | Aruna | Points | ||||
| 10 | Simon Gauzy | 4–0 | 4–3 | 4 | ||||
| 18 | Kanak Jha | 0–4 | 4–2 | 3 | ||||
| 14 | Quadri Aruna | 3–4 | 2–4 | 2 |
| Group C | Jeong | Tsuboi | Gionis | Points | ||||
| 11 | Jeong Sang-eun | 4–0 | 4–1 | 4 | ||||
| 16 | Gustavo Tsuboi | 0–4 | 4–1 | 3 | ||||
| 19 | Panagiotis Gionis | 1–4 | 1–4 | 2 |
| Group D | Groth | Falck | Hu | Points | ||||
| 12 | Jonathan Groth | 4–3 | 4–0 | 4 | ||||
| 13 | Mattias Falck | 3–4 | 4–0 | 3 | ||||
| 20 | Hu Heming | 0–4 | 0–4 | 2 |
The knockout stage took place from 20–21 October.[7]