Great Britain wins record-breaking month, USA leads Global Cup
Great Britain topped the August monthly table of the Global Cup, the ranking of the world’s best sporting nations, ahead of Spain and the USA.
It was a record-breaking month points-wise, with a whopping 14,430 GSN points awarded, split up among 97 countries. As well as the Athletics World Championships, one of the highest-scoring tournaments tracked by GSN, August was also the month of the women’s Football World Cup, and the Road Cycling, Track Cycling, Rhythmic Gymnastics, and Canoe/Kayak Sprint World Championships, among others (please see below for details of the main tournaments’ winners, and the August monthly Global Cup table).
Great Britain scored 1,270 points in the month, which alone are equivalent to 14th place in the current year-to-date Global Cup ranking. Nearly half of those points, 504, were earned by England’s Lionesses, who lost to Spain in the women’s Football World Cup final. Great Britain also won the Track Cycling and Sailing World Championships, and scored valuable points at the Athletics World Championships (winning two golds), the Modern Pentathlon World Championships, where it finished third behind Egypt and Italy, and the Netball World Championship, where it finished second behind Australia.
Thanks to these results, Great Britain was the most-improved country in the Global Cup year-to-date table’s top 20, jumping six places. It now ranks fourth overall, behind runaway leader USA (winner of the Athletics World Championships), France and Australia, which also had a strong August, finishing fourth in the monthly ranking and leaping three places to an unprecedented third in the year-to-date table.
Women’s Football World Cup winners Spain also had an exceptionally strong August, coming second in the monthly table on the back of a third place in the Canoe/Kayak Sprint World Championships and three Race Walking golds at the Athletics World Championships.
MAIN TOURNAMENTS IN AUGUST – left to right, first, second and third
Women’s Football World Cup: Spain, England, Sweden
Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships: Israel, Italy, Germany
Road Cycling World Championships: Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland
Track Cycling World Championships: Great Britain, Netherlands, Germany
Sailing World Championships: Great Britian, Netherlands, Italy
GLOBAL CUP – AUGUST MONTHLY RANKING
Place
|
Country
|
Points
|
Points %
|
1
|
Great Britain
|
1,270
|
8.8%
|
2
|
Spain
|
1,110
|
7.7%
|
3
|
United States
|
968
|
6.7%
|
4
|
Australia
|
811
|
5.6%
|
5
|
France
|
620
|
4.3%
|
6
|
Netherlands
|
618
|
4.3%
|
7
|
Germany
|
590
|
4.1%
|
8
|
Japan
|
554
|
3.8%
|
9
|
Sweden
|
545
|
3.8%
|
10
|
Italy
|
485
|
3.4%
|
11
|
China
|
455
|
3.2%
|
12
|
Canada
|
361
|
2.5%
|
13
|
Poland
|
351
|
2.4%
|
14
|
Jamaica
|
348
|
2.4%
|
15
|
Hungary
|
324
|
2.2%
|
16
|
South Korea
|
309
|
2.1%
|
17
|
New Zealand
|
272
|
1.9%
|
18
|
Kenya
|
248
|
1.7%
|
19
|
Ethiopia
|
239
|
1.7%
|
20
|
Colombia
|
237
|
1.6%
|
21
|
Denmark
|
227
|
1.6%
|
22
|
India
|
204
|
1.4%
|
23
|
Belgium
|
190
|
1.3%
|
24
|
Austria
|
170
|
1.2%
|
25
|
Switzerland
|
166
|
1.2%
|
26
|
Czech Republic
|
145
|
1.0%
|
27
|
Slovenia
|
141
|
1.0%
|
28
|
Israel
|
137
|
0.9%
|
29
|
Ukraine
|
125
|
0.9%
|
30
|
Mexico
|
124
|
0.9%
|
31
|
Portugal
|
121
|
0.8%
|
32
|
Indonesia
|
112
|
0.8%
|
33
|
Norway
|
109
|
0.8%
|
34
|
Uganda
|
100
|
0.7%
|
35
|
Cuba
|
90
|
0.6%
|
36
|
Turkey
|
81
|
0.6%
|
37
|
Romania
|
78
|
0.5%
|
38
|
Brazil
|
77
|
0.5%
|
39
|
Lithuania
|
58
|
0.4%
|
40
|
South Africa
|
53
|
0.4%
|
41
|
Kazakhstan
|
51
|
0.4%
|
42
|
Serbia
|
48
|
0.3%
|
43
|
Moldova
|
46
|
0.3%
|
44
|
Taiwan
|
46
|
0.3%
|
45
|
Chile
|
46
|
0.3%
|
46
|
Egypt
|
45
|
0.3%
|
47
|
Croatia
|
44
|
0.3%
|
48
|
Bulgaria
|
40
|
0.3%
|
49
|
Morocco
|
38
|
0.3%
|
50
|
Georgia
|
38
|
0.3%
|
51
|
Botswana
|
36
|
0.2%
|
52
|
Estonia
|
33
|
0.2%
|
53
|
Greece
|
32
|
0.2%
|
54
|
Peru
|
32
|
0.2%
|
55
|
Uzbekistan
|
30
|
0.2%
|
56
|
Ireland
|
30
|
0.2%
|
57
|
Thailand
|
30
|
0.2%
|
58
|
Bahrain
|
30
|
0.2%
|
59
|
Finland
|
30
|
0.2%
|
60
|
Ecuador
|
26
|
0.2%
|
61
|
Burkina Faso
|
24
|
0.2%
|
62
|
Dominican Republic
|
24
|
0.2%
|
63
|
Venezuela
|
22
|
0.2%
|
64
|
Latvia
|
22
|
0.2%
|
65
|
Malaysia
|
21
|
0.1%
|
66
|
Singapore
|
20
|
0.1%
|
67
|
Algeria
|
18
|
0.1%
|
68
|
Luxembourg
|
18
|
0.1%
|
69
|
Saint Lucia
|
18
|
0.1%
|
70
|
British Virgin Islands
|
16
|
0.1%
|
71
|
Malawi
|
16
|
0.1%
|
72
|
Puerto Rico
|
16
|
0.1%
|
73
|
Philippines
|
16
|
0.1%
|
74
|
Bahamas
|
16
|
0.1%
|
75
|
Pakistan
|
16
|
0.1%
|
76
|
Nigeria
|
16
|
0.1%
|
77
|
Lesotho
|
15
|
0.1%
|
78
|
Grenada
|
14
|
0.1%
|
79
|
Ivory Coast
|
14
|
0.1%
|
80
|
Qatar
|
12
|
0.1%
|
81
|
Barbados
|
12
|
0.1%
|
82
|
Cyprus
|
12
|
0.1%
|
83
|
Slovakia
|
10
|
0.1%
|
84
|
Azerbaijan
|
10
|
0.1%
|
85
|
Guatemala
|
10
|
0.1%
|
86
|
Dominica
|
8
|
0.1%
|
87
|
Trinidad and Tobago
|
8
|
0.1%
|
88
|
Tonga
|
8
|
0.1%
|
89
|
Iraq
|
6
|
0.0%
|
90
|
Argentina
|
4
|
0.0%
|
91
|
Burundi
|
4
|
0.0%
|
92
|
Armenia
|
4
|
0.0%
|
93
|
El Salvador
|
3
|
0.0%
|
94
|
Eritrea
|
3
|
0.0%
|
95
|
Iran
|
2
|
0.0%
|
96
|
Albania
|
2
|
0.0%
|
Grand Total
|
14,430
|
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.