Great Britain surges to fourth in Global Cup after November
In November, Great Britain gained two places in the Global Cup, the ranking of the world’s best sporting nations, overtaking France and Germany and climbing into fourth place overall, just 164 points shy of third-placed China.
A strong finish to the year for Great Britain, buoyed by good results in the Rugby World Cup and the Davis Cup in Tennis, but it may be too late to snatch third place from China. There is only a handful of tournaments left in the sporting year – among them the Trampoline World Championship, which China has won for the last five years.
In the fight for fourth place – the three podium finishers in the Global Cup are set to be the USA, Russia and China – France too has a strong chance. A Global Cup runner-up in 2016, 2017 and 2018, France has slipped somewhat this year, but can still look forward to the last Team Ball sports tournament of the year, the women’s Handball World Championship (last staged in 2017), in which it is the defending champion.
Another performance to note in the Global Cup’s top 10 so far this year is that of the Netherlands, currently the only nation featuring in the top 10 in both the Global Cup and the Per Capita Cup. A remarkable achievement for a country that finished ninth in 2018, and is consolidating its position among the world’s leading sporting nations.
Interestingly, the country that could oust the Dutch from the Global Cup top 10 is Norway, currently 125 points behind the Netherlands in 11th place. Once again, the tournament to watch is the women’s Handball World Championship, being staged in Japan from 30 November to 15 December: Norway finished second in this tournament behind France in 2017, and reaching the final would earn Norway a minimum of 144 points, enough to pip the Netherlands into 10th place in the Global Cup – also making Norway the only country this year with a top 10 finish in both the Global Cup and the Per Capita Cup.
