Italy surges to second in Global Cup, Australia gains 10 places

Submitted by nicolamira on 23 September, 2025 - 16:13
The USA won the 2025 World Aquatics Championships

 August has been one of the year’s highest-scoring months so far in the Global Cup, the ranking of the world’s best sporting nations. 8,954 GSN points were awarded in the month (the full monthly ranking is below), of which nearly 70% came from the World Aquatics Championships held in Singapore.

The USA and Australia were the dominant powers in Aquatics, finishing respectively first and second in Pool Swimming, ahead of China and Italy. The latter two did well also in Synchronised Swimming, which China won ahead of Spain and Italy, in Open Water Swimming, won by Italy ahead of Germany and Austria, and Diving, where China triumphed, beating Mexico and Australia.
 
The other main point-scoring event in August was the Canoe-Kayak Sprint World Championships. The podium places went to Hungary, Spain and Ukraine, but China, Australia and Italy again performed well, finishing respectively fifth, eighth and ninth.
 
In the year-to-date table, while the USA consolidated their leadership, the spate of strong August results meant that Italy sits now in second place – for the first time in GSN history– with a 142-point lead over France. Australia was the most-improved country in the year-to-date top 20 after August, climbing from 19th to 9th position thanks also to finishing second (behind France) in the BMX World Championship.
 
GLOBAL CUP 2025 – AUGUST MONTHLY TABLE
Place
Country
Points
Points %
1
United States
972
10.9%
2
Australia
872
9.7%
3
China
859
9.6%
4
Italy
678
7.6%
5
Hungary
512
5.7%
6
Germany
488
5.5%
7
France
442
4.9%
8
Canada
418
4.7%
9
Spain
394
4.4%
10
Japan
324
3.6%
11
Great Britain
324
3.6%
12
Netherlands
216
2.4%
13
Poland
175
2.0%
14
Ukraine
164
1.8%
15
Brazil
154
1.7%
16
South Africa
123
1.4%
17
Czech Republic
114
1.3%
18
Greece
100
1.1%
19
Mexico
96
1.1%
20
Portugal
83
0.9%
21
New Zealand
81
0.9%
22
Romania
80
0.9%
23
Colombia
79
0.9%
24
Lithuania
76
0.8%
25
South Korea
69
0.8%
26
Switzerland
69
0.8%
27
Argentina
60
0.7%
28
Tunisia
60
0.7%
29
Austria
59
0.7%
30
Denmark
57
0.6%
31
Sweden
57
0.6%
32
Moldova
52
0.6%
33
Belgium
48
0.5%
34
Bulgaria
46
0.5%
35
Chile
43
0.5%
36
Uzbekistan
42
0.5%
37
Uruguay
40
0.4%
38
serbia
40
0.4%
39
Egypt
38
0.4%
40
Paraguay
32
0.4%
41
Norway
32
0.4%
42
Israel
31
0.3%
43
Slovenia
24
0.3%
44
Turkey
23
0.3%
45
Monaco
22
0.2%
46
North Korea
21
0.2%
47
Slovakia
20
0.2%
48
Kyrgyzstan
18
0.2%
49
Venezuela
16
0.2%
50
Cuba
16
0.2%
51
Ireland
15
0.2%
52
Georgia
12
0.1%
53
Croatia
12
0.1%
54
Kazakhstan
11
0.1%
55
Estonia
9
0.1%
56
Montenegro
9
0.1%
57
Taiwan
9
0.1%
58
Ecuador
8
0.1%
59
Singapore
6
0.1%
60
Finland
3
0.0%
61
Malaysia
2
0.0%
62
Thailand
1
0.0%
Grand Total
8,954
100.0%
 
 
Follow GSN also on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) and keep up with the latest in the quest for the world’s best sporting nation!
 
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
Bookmark/Search this post with