Japan secures Global Cup second place, USA set to win title
November, besides being a very busy sporting month, has been decisive in shaping up the podium positions for the 2021 Global Cup,
the ranking of the world’s best sporting nations.
The year’s last nine tournaments are scheduled in December, the women’s Handball World Championship the most significant points-wise, and the Global Cup’s first three places are now settled.
At the end of October, the race for second place was still tight between Japan and France, but the Asian powerhouse posted an excellent November result, finishing the monthly ranking (please see below) only 13 points behind the winner USA, and now has a virtually unassailable 376-point margin over third-placed France in the year-to-date table.
Surprisingly, Japan did not win the month’s biggest point-earning tournament, the Karate World Championships, which was won by Egypt – the first time in GSN history that Japan did not win it! But Japan did finish second, as it did in the Table Tennis World Championships (behind, you guessed it, China), and finished sixth in the Amateur Boxing World Championships, to name some of the month’s main events.
The USA edged Japan in the monthly ranking by narrowly winning the Ten-Pin Bowling World Championship ahead of Sweden, finishing third behind Kazakhstan (another surprise winner) and Cuba in the Amateur Boxing World Championships, and picking up useful points in Tennis and Marathon, among others.
Behind the Global Cup year-to-date top three, China did very well in Table Tennis and Trampoline in November, but still failed to pip Italy in fourth place. There are only 58 points between these two countries, so anything could happen come the end of December. Will it be a historic fourth place for Italy, or will China finish close to the Global Cup podium, after dropping to an unprecedented 25th place in pandemic-stricken 2020?
GLOBAL CUP – NOVEMBER MONTHLY RANKING
|
Place
|
Country
|
Points
|
Points %
|
|
1
|
United States
|
490
|
7.7%
|
|
2
|
Japan
|
477
|
7.5%
|
|
3
|
China
|
372
|
5.9%
|
|
4
|
Italy
|
328
|
5.2%
|
|
5
|
France
|
267
|
4.2%
|
|
6
|
Egypt
|
264
|
4.2%
|
|
7
|
Kazakhstan
|
256
|
4.0%
|
|
8
|
Spain
|
247
|
3.9%
|
|
9
|
Sweden
|
194
|
3.1%
|
|
10
|
Azerbaijan
|
163
|
2.6%
|
|
11
|
Great Britain
|
143
|
2.3%
|
|
12
|
South Korea
|
141
|
2.2%
|
|
13
|
Uzbekistan
|
139
|
2.2%
|
|
14
|
Cuba
|
131
|
2.1%
|
|
15
|
Germany
|
122
|
1.9%
|
|
16
|
Ukraine
|
120
|
1.9%
|
|
17
|
Serbia
|
118
|
1.9%
|
|
18
|
Turkey
|
117
|
1.8%
|
|
19
|
Brazil
|
103
|
1.6%
|
|
20
|
Australia
|
98
|
1.5%
|
|
21
|
Morocco
|
94
|
1.5%
|
|
22
|
India
|
91
|
1.4%
|
|
23
|
Kenya
|
84
|
1.3%
|
|
24
|
Singapore
|
79
|
1.2%
|
|
25
|
Croatia
|
78
|
1.2%
|
|
26
|
Canada
|
77
|
1.2%
|
|
27
|
Georgia
|
73
|
1.2%
|
|
28
|
Belarus
|
72
|
1.1%
|
|
29
|
Malaysia
|
62
|
1.0%
|
|
30
|
Belgium
|
59
|
0.9%
|
|
31
|
New Zealand
|
58
|
0.9%
|
|
32
|
Portugal
|
58
|
0.9%
|
|
33
|
Colombia
|
57
|
0.9%
|
|
34
|
Switzerland
|
54
|
0.9%
|
|
35
|
Finland
|
51
|
0.8%
|
|
36
|
Hong Kong
|
48
|
0.8%
|
|
37
|
Chile
|
46
|
0.7%
|
|
38
|
Netherlands
|
44
|
0.7%
|
|
39
|
North Macedonia
|
44
|
0.7%
|
|
40
|
Peru
|
42
|
0.7%
|
|
41
|
Armenia
|
41
|
0.6%
|
|
42
|
Pakistan
|
39
|
0.6%
|
|
43
|
Czech Republic
|
38
|
0.6%
|
|
44
|
Luxembourg
|
36
|
0.6%
|
|
45
|
Bulgaria
|
36
|
0.6%
|
|
46
|
Lithuania
|
33
|
0.5%
|
|
47
|
Denmark
|
29
|
0.5%
|
|
48
|
Philippines
|
28
|
0.4%
|
|
49
|
Ethiopia
|
27
|
0.4%
|
|
50
|
Guatemala
|
27
|
0.4%
|
|
51
|
Slovakia
|
27
|
0.4%
|
|
52
|
Hungary
|
26
|
0.4%
|
|
53
|
South Africa
|
26
|
0.4%
|
|
54
|
Kyrgyzstan
|
23
|
0.4%
|
|
55
|
Taiwan
|
22
|
0.3%
|
|
56
|
Norway
|
20
|
0.3%
|
|
57
|
Trinidad and Tobago
|
17
|
0.3%
|
|
58
|
Albania
|
17
|
0.3%
|
|
59
|
Iran
|
17
|
0.3%
|
|
60
|
Dominican Republic
|
17
|
0.3%
|
|
61
|
Ecuador
|
15
|
0.2%
|
|
62
|
Mongolia
|
15
|
0.2%
|
|
63
|
Greece
|
14
|
0.2%
|
|
64
|
Montenegro
|
14
|
0.2%
|
|
65
|
Austria
|
14
|
0.2%
|
|
66
|
Mexico
|
14
|
0.2%
|
|
67
|
Jordan
|
14
|
0.2%
|
|
68
|
Kuwait
|
12
|
0.2%
|
|
69
|
Algeria
|
12
|
0.2%
|
|
70
|
Namibia
|
12
|
0.2%
|
|
71
|
Afghanistan
|
11
|
0.2%
|
|
72
|
Sri Lanka
|
11
|
0.2%
|
|
73
|
Nigeria
|
10
|
0.2%
|
|
74
|
Romania
|
10
|
0.2%
|
|
75
|
Poland
|
8
|
0.1%
|
|
76
|
Venezuela
|
8
|
0.1%
|
|
77
|
Moldova
|
8
|
0.1%
|
|
78
|
Barbados
|
8
|
0.1%
|
|
79
|
Ireland
|
8
|
0.1%
|
|
80
|
Kosovo
|
6
|
0.1%
|
|
81
|
Saudi Arabia
|
6
|
0.1%
|
|
82
|
United Arab Emirates
|
5
|
0.1%
|
|
83
|
Brunei
|
5
|
0.1%
|
|
84
|
Qatar
|
5
|
0.1%
|
|
85
|
Argentina
|
4
|
0.1%
|
|
Grand Total
|
6,339
|
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.
