USA tops September Global Cup ranking, ahead of Japan, France

The USA Ladies won the 2018 Basketball World Championships

September was the biggest sporting month in the year so far, in terms of number of tournaments and especially points awarded in the Global Cup. When the stakes are high, the big boys get stuck in, and none more so than the USA, which topped the monthly ranking of the world’s best sporting nations in September with an extraordinary tally of 1,031 points, ahead of Japan and France.

It’s not a record for the year, since France scored 1,235 points in July, but 1,000 of those came courtesy of its Football World Cup triumph. In the month of September, the USA instead scored points in 14 different sports!
 
To put the USA’s amazing performance in perspective, before September, only 12 nations had scored more than 1,000 points in the Global Cup, but in the course of eight months, not a single one. And there were teams in the top 10 who had scored points in ‘only’ 15 sports (the Netherlands, Norway) or 16 sports (Sweden), again during the entire January-August period.
 
In more detail, the USA scored
-          350 points (34.4% of its monthly tally) by winning the Women’s Basketball World Championships
-          144 points (14.0%) by finishing 3rd in the Volleyball Men’s World Championships
-          100 points (9.7%) at the Shooting World Championships
-          93 points (9.0%) at the US Open Tennis Championships
-          plus points at the World Equestrian Games and in Golf, Triathlon, Rowing, Road Cycling, Rhythmic Gymnastics, MTB, Climbing, Canoe Kayak and Archery.
 
Behind the USA, Japan had a super month, winning two big tournaments, the Judo World Championships with 426 points, and the Climbing World Championships with 217, while France finished 5th in the Women’s Basketball World Championships and was second in the Judo World Championships.
 
Below are the top finishers in the month’s biggest tournaments, and the full monthly ranking, with 71 countries sharing the 10,844 points on offer.
 
Finally, a mention for Croatia: it was 25th in the month with 107 points but, crucially, with nine top-8 placements, which means it is now well and truly in the race for the Per Capita Cup, the ranking of the world’s sportiest nations.
 
·       Basketball Women’s World Championships: USA, Australia, Spain
·       Volleyball Men’s World Championships: Poland, Brazil, USA
·       Judo World Championships: Japan, France, South Korea, Mongolia, Russia
·       Climbing World Championships: Japan, Austria, Slovenia, Poland
·       Shooting World Championships: South Korea, Germany, China, Russia, USA
 
Place
Country
Points
Points %
1
United States
1,031
9.5%
2
Japan
798
7.4%
3
France
670
6.2%
4
Germany
537
4.9%
5
Australia
519
4.8%
6
Russia
438
4.0%
7
Spain
434
4.0%
8
South Korea
423
3.9%
9
Poland
422
3.9%
10
Great Britain
420
3.9%
11
Italy
360
3.3%
12
Netherlands
357
3.3%
13
China
333
3.1%
14
Brazil
301
2.8%
15
Switzerland
242
2.2%
16
Belgium
236
2.2%
17
Serbia
218
2.0%
18
Canada
198
1.8%
19
Ukraine
191
1.8%
20
Czech Republic
179
1.6%
21
Austria
174
1.6%
22
Slovenia
154
1.4%
23
India
118
1.1%
24
Kenya
117
1.1%
25
Croatia
107
1.0%
26
Slovakia
100
0.9%
27
Denmark
98
0.9%
28
Turkey
97
0.9%
29
Sweden
93
0.9%
30
Norway
91
0.8%
31
Mongolia
86
0.8%
32
Iran
81
0.7%
33
Azerbaijan
79
0.7%
34
Georgia
77
0.7%
35
Ireland
71
0.7%
36
Hungary
67
0.6%
37
Argentina
65
0.6%
38
Cuba
63
0.6%
39
New Zealand
63
0.6%
40
Colombia
63
0.6%
41
Belarus
54
0.5%
42
Kazakhstan
51
0.5%
43
Ethiopia
51
0.5%
44
Bulgaria
44
0.4%
45
Israel
41
0.4%
46
Finland
40
0.4%
47
Taiwan
36
0.3%
48
Nigeria
35
0.3%
49
Romania
32
0.3%
50
Portugal
30
0.3%
51
Greece
28
0.3%
52
Latvia
28
0.3%
53
Mexico
26
0.2%
54
Eritrea
18
0.2%
55
South Africa
17
0.2%
56
Bosnia and Herzegovina
17
0.2%
57
Kuwait
16
0.1%
58
Lithuania
16
0.1%
59
Egypt
15
0.1%
60
Morocco
11
0.1%
61
Uzbekistan
11
0.1%
62
Puerto Rico
11
0.1%
63
Cyprus
10
0.1%
64
Singapore
10
0.1%
65
Tajikistan
9
0.1%
66
Guatemala
6
0.1%
67
North Korea
5
0.0%
68
Kosovo
5
0.0%
69
Vietnam
4
0.0%
70
Qatar
4
0.0%
71
Pakistan
4
0.0%
Grand Total
10,844
100.0%