Germany pips France to Global Cup second place
The race behind Global Cup leader the USA in the year-to-date ranking of the world’s best sporting nations couldn’t be tighter. After finishing second in the monthly table in September (the full results are listed below), Germany leapt six places into second, a mere 4 points (2,595 vs 2,591) ahead of France. Two other countries, China and Great Britain, are neck-and-neck in their wake, and Australia in sixth place is only 137 points behind Germany. Competition will be fierce in the last three months of the year.
The USA was the best sporting nation in September, earning 245 points in the men’s Basketball World Cup in which it finished fourth, winning the US Open Tennis tournament and the Free Wrestling World Championships (the latter ahead of Japan and Iran), and finishing second in the Rowing World Championships and in the Breaking World Championships – the first tournament GSN has tracked for this new entry among its qualifying sports. For the record, Japan was crowned world Breaking champion, and Lithuania finished third.
Germany powered to second place in the monthly and year-to-date Global Cup ranking after September by winning the men’s Basketball World Cup, ahead of Serbia and Canada, and scoring useful points in, among others, the Rowing World Championships, where it won gold in the men’s Single Sculls.
Besides the Basketball World Championship (by itself worth 27% of the points awarded in September), the month’s other big point-scoring tournament was the Weightlifting World Championships. Past winner China triumphed again, winning the tournament overall, ahead of Colombia and South Korea, as well as both the women’s ranking (ahead of Colombia and the USA) and the men’s (ahead of Armenia and Uzbekistan).
GLOBAL CUP – SEPTEMBER MONTHLY TABLE
|
Place
|
Country
|
Points
|
Points %
|
|
1
|
United States
|
765
|
10.8%
|
|
2
|
Germany
|
586
|
8.3%
|
|
3
|
Serbia
|
506
|
7.2%
|
|
4
|
China
|
326
|
4.6%
|
|
5
|
Canada
|
321
|
4.6%
|
|
6
|
Japan
|
236
|
3.3%
|
|
7
|
Latvia
|
209
|
3.0%
|
|
8
|
Iran
|
204
|
2.9%
|
|
9
|
Lithuania
|
172
|
2.4%
|
|
10
|
Turkey
|
171
|
2.4%
|
|
11
|
Armenia
|
169
|
2.4%
|
|
12
|
Azerbaijan
|
164
|
2.3%
|
|
13
|
Italy
|
149
|
2.1%
|
|
14
|
Georgia
|
143
|
2.0%
|
|
15
|
France
|
138
|
2.0%
|
|
16
|
Colombia
|
132
|
1.9%
|
|
17
|
Ethiopia
|
114
|
1.6%
|
|
18
|
Ukraine
|
110
|
1.6%
|
|
19
|
Slovenia
|
110
|
1.6%
|
|
20
|
Great Britain
|
106
|
1.5%
|
|
21
|
Romania
|
105
|
1.5%
|
|
22
|
Uzbekistan
|
104
|
1.5%
|
|
23
|
Kenya
|
102
|
1.4%
|
|
24
|
South Korea
|
102
|
1.4%
|
|
25
|
Kyrgyzstan
|
101
|
1.4%
|
|
26
|
Kazakhstan
|
91
|
1.3%
|
|
27
|
Spain
|
88
|
1.2%
|
|
28
|
Egypt
|
85
|
1.2%
|
|
29
|
Netherlands
|
84
|
1.2%
|
|
30
|
Moldova
|
83
|
1.2%
|
|
31
|
Bulgaria
|
83
|
1.2%
|
|
32
|
Hungary
|
79
|
1.1%
|
|
33
|
Thailand
|
74
|
1.0%
|
|
34
|
Cuba
|
62
|
0.9%
|
|
35
|
Mongolia
|
60
|
0.9%
|
|
36
|
Ecuador
|
57
|
0.8%
|
|
37
|
Czech Republic
|
56
|
0.8%
|
|
38
|
Australia
|
55
|
0.8%
|
|
39
|
Taiwan
|
50
|
0.7%
|
|
40
|
Indonesia
|
48
|
0.7%
|
|
41
|
New Zealand
|
46
|
0.7%
|
|
42
|
Ireland
|
44
|
0.6%
|
|
43
|
Switzerland
|
40
|
0.6%
|
|
44
|
Poland
|
38
|
0.5%
|
|
45
|
Vietnam
|
38
|
0.5%
|
|
46
|
Nigeria
|
33
|
0.5%
|
|
47
|
Bahrain
|
32
|
0.5%
|
|
48
|
Mexico
|
30
|
0.4%
|
|
49
|
Norway
|
25
|
0.4%
|
|
50
|
Venezuela
|
22
|
0.3%
|
|
51
|
Madagascar
|
22
|
0.3%
|
|
52
|
Greece
|
21
|
0.3%
|
|
53
|
Denmark
|
21
|
0.3%
|
|
54
|
Philippines
|
18
|
0.3%
|
|
55
|
Tanzania
|
18
|
0.3%
|
|
56
|
Albania
|
17
|
0.2%
|
|
57
|
Iraq
|
16
|
0.2%
|
|
58
|
Puerto Rico
|
16
|
0.2%
|
|
59
|
Chile
|
14
|
0.2%
|
|
60
|
Brazil
|
12
|
0.2%
|
|
61
|
Croatia
|
11
|
0.2%
|
|
62
|
San Marino
|
11
|
0.2%
|
|
63
|
Sweden
|
11
|
0.2%
|
|
64
|
Saudi Arabia
|
10
|
0.1%
|
|
65
|
Portugal
|
10
|
0.1%
|
|
66
|
Austria
|
9
|
0.1%
|
|
67
|
Turkmenistan
|
8
|
0.1%
|
|
68
|
Peru
|
8
|
0.1%
|
|
69
|
Samoa
|
8
|
0.1%
|
|
70
|
Brunei
|
7
|
0.1%
|
|
71
|
Tunisia
|
6
|
0.1%
|
|
72
|
Israel
|
5
|
0.1%
|
|
73
|
Sri Lanka
|
4
|
0.1%
|
|
74
|
Qatar
|
4
|
0.1%
|
|
75
|
Slovakia
|
4
|
0.1%
|
|
76
|
Dominican Republic
|
4
|
0.1%
|
|
77
|
South Africa
|
3
|
0.0%
|
|
78
|
Belgium
|
3
|
0.0%
|
|
79
|
North Macedonia
|
2
|
0.0%
|
|
80
|
Finland
|
2
|
0.0%
|
|
81
|
Luxembourg
|
2
|
0.0%
|
|
82
|
Estonia
|
1
|
0.0%
|
|
Grand Total
|
7,054
|
100.0%
|
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Greatest Sporting Nation is a ranking of countries based on their performance in top-level international tournaments in sports in which there is genuine global competition. Countries (national teams and/or individual athletes) score Qualifying Points by finishing in the top eight places in Qualifying Events.
These Qualifying Points are then weighted to produce GSN Points, based on a formula that takes into account individual vs team sports, the sport’s participation (number of countries) and the frequency (annual/biennial/quadrennial) of the tournaments.
The Country scoring the most Points in a calendar year wins the Global Cup for that year. The country that scores the most points relative to its population wins the Per Capita Cup. For a more detailed explanation, please refer to the ‘How It Works’ section on the site.
