Profiling the world’s top sporting nations: Italy, Japan, Germany

In the fifth article in the series, the countries under our lens are Italy, Japan and Germany. In previous articles we analysed the performance of Serbia, Poland, Kenya, Switzerland, Sweden, South Korea, Brazil, Norway, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada. In each article, we took an in-depth look at each country, highlighting which sports it excels at and how versatile it is in terms of disciplines.

 

The table below shows the aggregate top-20 Global Cup ranking for the 2016-19 quadrennial period (or quad for short), the latest for which we have four-year data.

 

Italy gained two positions in this quad over the previous four-year period, slotting into 8^th place overall. It was 10^th in the 2016 annual Global Cup ranking, it rose to fifth, its best-ever finish, in 2017, and then finished in eighth place for two years in succession. In the quad, Italy scored points in never fewer than 35 sports, its most proficient year being 2019, with 45.

This versatility is reflected in the fact that three different sports ranked as the country’s top discipline across the quad: Volleyball (twice), Rowing and Swimming.

 

Italy has consistently been one of the quad’s leading Volleyball countries, finishing fourth (in 2016) and fifth (in 2017) in the sport annual ranking. It’s done even better in Rowing, winning the sport outright in three of the quad’s four years (in 2017, 2018 and 2019), ahead of major rowing nations like Great Britain, New Zealand and the USA. And Italy is an emerging power in Swimming, one of GSN’s highest scoring sports, having risen from ninth (in 2016 and 2017) to fifth (in 2019) in the sport’s annual ranking – chiefly thanks to its ladies, who took Italy to fourth place in the sport’s 2019 gender ranking.

 

In the last three years, Italy’s results were also driven by excellence in Alpine Skiing, the country’s second-best sport in 2017 and 2019, as well as Shooting and Ski Mountaineering, the two other sports Italy won outright in 2019 alongside Rowing.

Italy is currently 5^th in the Global Cup, and it finished 8^th in the Global Cup and 31^st in the Per Capita Cup in 2019.

 

Japan was 7^th in the aggregate Global Cup table for the 2016-19 quad and, like Italy, it improved by two positions over the previous quad. In the course of the quad’s four years, Japan’s ranking has been steady, its most successful year being 2018, when it achieved its best-ever Global Cup finish, a prestigious fourth place, ahead of sporting powers like Germany and China.

 

Compared to Italy, Japan scores points in slightly fewer sports, 41 at the most in the quad, and below 40 in two of the quad’s years, but it is the undisputed master in martial arts like Judo and Karate. Since GSN records began, Japan has always won the annual Global Cup ranking in both disciplines: in Judo, with never less than double the points of the runner-up (almost always France), while its winning margins in Karate have been less emphatic.

 

Free Wrestling is another sport that contributes regularly to Japan’s annual total (it ranked in the country’s top five sports in 2016, 2017 and 2018), and this, unsurprisingly, led Japan to winning the Combat Sports group (which also includes Greco-Roman Wrestling, Amateur Boxing and Taekwondo) in 2016 and 2018, and finishing second in 2017 and 2019.

In 2019, Japan was also the world’s most successful nation in sports as diverse as Badminton, Body Boarding and Climbing. It finished seventh in the Global Cup and 46^th in the Per Capita Cup in 2019, and it currently sits in 11^th place in the 2020 Global Cup.

 

Germany was sixth in the aggregate Global Cup table for the 2016-19 quad, having lost two places compared to the previous quad. After several highly successful Global Cup years – Germany finished third overall for four times between 2009 and 2014 - it posted a fourth place in 2016, its best result in the quad, but never manged to rise above fifth in the quad’s other years.

 

Unlike more specialised countries, like Japan, Germany’s main asset is versatility. In three of the 2016-19 quad’s four years, Germany scored points in over 40 sports, the peak being 2019 with 49 sports, more in a single year than any of the countries behind it in the aggregate top-20.

Twice in the quad, Germany’s top disciplines were two of GSN’s main point-earning sports: Football in 2016, when Germany was the world’s top country in the sport, finishing fourth in the men’s UEFA European Championships and third in the Olympics, and Athletics in 2019. In 2017 and 2018, rather surprisingly, Germany’s highest point provider was Canoe-Kayak Sprint, which was also its second-best sport in 2019. In three out of the quad’s four years, Germany led the Global Cup in this sport.

 

Arguably, Germany hit a peak in Football in 2016, but then lost ground in this crucial sport in the course of the 2016-19 quad. In the previous quad, 2012-15, Germany had scored 1,765 points in Football (including 1,000 in 2014, winning the men’s FIFA World Cup), while in the latest quad it bagged ‘only’ 970 points.

 

In the 2016-19 quad, Germany scored 759 fewer points overall than in the previous one, so the 795-point shortfall in Football between the two quads goes some way towards explaining Germany’s relative decline among the elite sporting countries.

 

Snow & Ice sports are another of Germany’s favourite arenas. Germany never finished below fifth in the annual ranking for the sport group (one of the biggest aggregate point earners for GSN), and has been constantly on the rise, notching up a fifth place in 2016, then two fourth places and finally a podium finish (third) in 2019. The latter came courtesy of victories in the individual sport ranking in four Snow & Ice disciplines (Bobsleigh, Luge, Skeleton and Ski Jumping) in 2019.

Germany is currently second in the Global Cup and 12^th in the Per Capita Cup.

 

* position change vs previous quad

 

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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.