USA wins 2022 Global Cup title

Once again, the USA is the world’s best sporting nation, winning the annual Global Cup ranking for the 15^th consecutive time since GSN records began in 2008.

 

With a 10.3% share of the 59,839 GSN points awarded in 2022, the USA topped the table ahead of France, which ended the year on a high, gaining two positions in December, and China, which also staged a strong year-end comeback, finishing third just 56 points ahead of Great Britain.

 

It’s the second time France finishes as runner-up thanks to its Football prowess (it did so also in 2018), although once again the USA did win by a considerably margin, with nearly double the points scored by France.

The USA took the 2022 Global Cup title through a combination of sporting excellence (its teams/athletes ranked among the first eight positions in tournaments tracked by GSN for 476 times in the year, compared to 252 times for France and 236 for China) and versatility.

 

In 2022, the USA scored points in 52 different sports, out of the 65 for which GSN points were awarded this year. Not as many as the record-breaking 58 sports in which the USA scored points last year – but then 2021 was an Olympic year.

 

The full list of the USA’s point-scoring sports is here. Notably, and this ties in with the point about excellence, the USA won 11 of these sports (the list is below), and was a podium finisher in another 13.

 

Artistic Gymnastics

Athletics

Basketball

BMX

Figure Skating

Freestyle Skiing

Golf

Lacrosse

Swimming

Tennis

Free Wrestling

 

A quick look at the ‘best sports’ page for the USA shows that Swimming was the country’s top sport in terms of points earned – the USA won the World Swimming Championships in June – followed by Athletics, Golf, Basketball and, surprisingly perhaps, a less widely practiced sport like Free Wrestling.

 

Follow GSN also on Facebook and 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.