Great Britain wins record-breaking month, USA leads Global Cup

Spain won the women’s Football World Cup beating England in the final – pic.: RFEF

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
Athletics World Championships: USA, Jamaica, Kenya
Archery Outdoor World Championships: India, South Korea, Netherlands
Badminton World Championships: China, South Korea, Japan
Canoe/Kayak Sprint World Championships: Germany, Hungary, Spain
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.