World cup

International sports competition where competitors represent their nation

For the flagship association football competition World Cup, see FIFA World Cup. For the flagship cricket competition World Cup, see ICC Men's Cricket World Cup. For a more exhaustive list, see List of world cups. For World championships, see List of world sports championships and List of world championships in mind sports. For the song by IShowSpeed, see World Cup (song).

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The Alpine Skiing World Cup consists of a series of competitions where results are counted together

A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities –usually international teams or individuals representing their countries– compete for the title of world champion. The events most associated with the concept are the FIFA World Cup for association football (the most popular sports competition in the world), along with the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup for cricket, both of which are widely known simply as "the World Cup." However, there are a number of notable popular team sports competitions labeled "world cups", such as the Rugby World Cup, Rugby League World Cup, and the Hockey World Cup.[1]

A world cup is generally, though not always, considered the premier competition in its sport, with the victor attaining the highest honour in that sport and being able to lay claim to the title of their sport's best. However, in some sports the Olympic title carries at least as much prestige, while other sports such as diving and artistic gymnastics differentiate between their premier competitions, such as World Championships and Olympic Games, and their "World Cup", which is organised as a smaller scale but high-level showcase event with small elite fields.

## Differences between world cup and world championships

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Some sports governing bodies prefer the title "world championship" or a related term; some even organize both a world cup and a world championship with different rules. Usually, such competitions take one of two forms: a short periodic competition or a year-long series of meetings, but more frequently many sports have both a World Cup (usually consisting of multiple events in a season), and a world championship (usually a single event). Some examples are in the following table.

Sport | World Cup | World Championships

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Alpine skiing | FIS Alpine Ski World Cup | FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
Archery | Archery World Cup | World Archery Championships
Artistic gymnastics | Artistic Gymnastics World Cup | World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Biathlon | Biathlon World Cup | Biathlon World Championships
Athletics | Athletics World Cup | World Athletics Championships
Cross-country skiing | FIS Cross-Country World Cup | FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
Curling | Curling World Cup | World Curling Championships
Cycling | UCI Road World Cup | UCI World Championships
Diving | FINA Diving World Cup | FINA World Aquatics Championships
Fencing | Fencing World Cup | Fencing World Championships
Freestyle skiing | FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup | FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships
Luge | Luge World Cup | FIL World Luge Championships
Nordic combined | FIS Nordic Combined World Cup | FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
Rhythmic gymnastics | Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup | World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships
Ski jumping | FIS Ski Jumping World Cup | FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
Speed skating | ISU Speed Skating World Cup | World Speed Skating Championships
Volleyball | FIVB Volleyball World Cup | FIVB Volleyball World Championship

A periodic world cup or world championship usually takes the form of a knockout tournament (possibly with an initial group stage). This is held over a number of days or weeks, with the entrants eventually being whittled down to two, and the tournament culminating in a world cup final. The winner(s) take the title of World Champion(s) and hold it until the next time the event is held (usually one, two, or four years later). This format is most common in team sports, as with the FIFA World Cup or the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.

## Season-long format

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A contrasting concept, popular in individual sports, is a year-long competition with several meetings over its course. In this format, victory at an individual meeting earns a number of points, and, usually, a number of positions below also score points inversely related to their position. Contestants accumulate a number of points over the course of the year (often "season") and their cumulative total after all meetings have been concluded determines the World Champion or, simply, World Cup winner. The winner is then considered the champion until the next World Cup.

## See also

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* List of world sports championships, including those styled as "World Cups"
* World Cup (disambiguation)
* World Series (disambiguation)

## References

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1. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2000. Archived from the original on 2005-11-23. Retrieved 2024-06-08.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

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World cups

* List of world cups

Team|

* Association football
* men
* men's club
* women
* women's club
* ConIFA
* Athletics
* Continental
* Australian rules football
* Badminton
* men
* women
* mixed
* Baseball
* men
* women
* Basketball
* men
* women
* Beach soccer
* Boxing
* Bull riding
* Cricket
* Test
* men ODI
* men T20
* women ODI
* women T20
* indoor
* Darts
* PDC
* WDF
* Fencing
* Field hockey
* men
* women
* Futsal
* FIFA men
* FIFA women
* AMF men
* AMF women
* Golf
* men
* women
* Ice hockey
* Kabaddi
* Circle
* Standard
* Lacrosse
* women
* Para ice hockey
* men
* women
* Pesäpallo
* Pitch and putt
* Pool (nine-ball)
* Quidditch/Quadball
* Roll ball
* Motorsport
* auto racing
* motocross
* speedway
* trial
* Roller derby
* men
* women
* Rowing
* Rugby league
* men
* women
* nines
* wheelchair
* Rugby union
* men
* women
* sevens
* Sepaktakraw
* Snooker
* Softball
* men
* women
* Taekwondo
* Tennis
* men
* women
* mixed
* Touch football
* Volleyball
* men
* women
* Water polo
* men
* women
* Wrestling
* teams
* clubs

Individual|

* Archery
* Bowling
* Ten-pin bowling
* Nine-pin bowling classic
* Canoe slalom
* Wildwater canoeing
* Chess
* Cyclo-cross
* Diving
* Equestrian dressage
* Fencing
* Gymnastics
* artistic
* rhythmic
* Mountain bike racing
* Orienteering
* Paralympic
* summer
* winter
* Road bicycle racing
* men
* women
* Sailing
* Show jumping
* Sport shooting
* Swimming
* Table tennis
* Track cycling
* Triathlon
* Weightlifting
* Wushu
* Taolu
* Sanda

Winter sports|

* Biathlon
* Curling
* Skiing
* Alpine
* Cross-country
* Freestyle
* ski cross
* Nordic combined
* Ski jumping
* ski flying
* Snowboarding
* Ski mountaineering
* Ski orienteering
* Sledding
* Bobsleigh
* Luge
* Skeleton
* Speed skating
* Short track

* See also: World championships

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