List of world cups and world championships

The following is a list of world cups and world championships, sporting events which use one of these two names, or one with a similar meaning. In some sports, there is a world series, but that term usually has a somewhat different meaning.

Tournaments which are formally defunct or where a further event is not currently planned are marked with a gray background.

See also list of world cups and world championships for juniors and youth.

Men

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Alpine skiing	FIS Alpine skiing World Cup	Individuals	1967	Bode Miller (overall) Winners in 4 events (2008)	2008/09	One year
		Nations		Austria (2008)
	FIS Alpine World Skiing Championships	Individuals	1931	Winners in 5 events	2009	Two years
American Football	IFAF World Cup	Nations	1999	United States (2007)	2011	Four years
Aquatics	FINA World Aquatics Championships	Individuals	1973	Winners in 31 events (2007)	2009	Two years
	FINA World Championships - Short Course	Individuals	1993	Winners in 20 events (2008)	2010	Two years
	FINA Swimming World Cup	Individuals	1989	Randall Bal (2007)	2008	One year
	FINA Water Polo World Cup	Nations	1979	Serbia (2006)	2010	Four years
Association Football (soccer)	FIFA World Cup	Nations	1930	Italy (2006)	2010	Four years
	VIVA World Cup	Nations	2006	Padania (2008)	2010	Two years
	FIFA Club World Cup	Clubs	2000	AC Milan (2007)	2008	One year
Athletics (track and field)	IAAF World Cup in Athletics	Nations and continents	1977	Europe (2006)	2010	Originally two years, now four years
	IAAF World Championships in Athletics	Individuals	1983	Winners in 24 events (2007)	2009	Originally four years, now two years
	IAAF World Indoor Championships	Individuals	1985	Winners in 13 events (2008)	2010	Two years
Australian football	Australian Football International Cup	Nations	2002	Papua New Guinea (2009)	2011	Originally three years, now four years
Auto racing see the mixed section below
Badminton	BWF World Championships	Individuals	1977	Winners in 3 events (2007)	2009	One year (Non-Olympic years only)
Bandy	Bandy World Cup	Clubs	1974	Dynamo Moscow (2007)	2008	One year
	Bandy World Championships	Nations	1957	Russia (2008)	2009	One year
Baseball	Baseball World Cup	Nations	1938	United States (2007)	2009	Two years
	World Baseball Classic	Nations	2006	Japan (2006)	2009	Four years after 2009
Basketball	FIBA World Championship	Nations	1950	Spain (2006)	2010	Four years
Beach Soccer	FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup	Nations	2005	Brazil (2008)	2009	One year
Biathlon	Biathlon World Cup	Individuals	1977/78	Ole Einar Bjørndalen (2007/08)	2008/09	One year
		Nations	1996/97	Norway (2007/08)
Billiards (Pool)	World Cup of Pool	Nations	2006	China (2007)	2008	One year
	WPA World Nine-ball Championship	Individuals	1990	Daryl Peach (2007)	2008	One year
	WPA World Eight-ball Championship	Individuals	2004	Ralf Souquet (2008)	2009	One year
Boxing	see List of undisputed boxing champions, List of heavyweight boxing champions etc.	Individuals	1882	Winners in several weight classes	At challenge	N/a
	World Amateur Boxing Championships	Individuals	1974	Winners in 11 weight classes (2007)	2009	Two years
	Boxing World Cup	Nations	2005	Cuba (2006)	2008	One year
Canoeing	ICF Flatwater Racing World Championships	Individuals	1938	Winners in 18 events (2007)	2009	One year
Cricket	Cricket World Cup (One-day)	Nations	1975	Australia (2007)	2011	Four years
	ICC World Twenty20 (Twenty20)	Nations	2007	India (2007)	2009	Approximately two years
Cross-country skiing	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals	1925	Winners in 12 events (2007)	2009	Two years
	Cross-country skiing World Cup	Individuals	1973/74	Lukáš Bauer (overall) Ola Vigen Hattestad (sprint) (2007/08)	2008/09	One year
Curling	World Curling Championships	Nations	1959	Canada (2008)	2009	One year
Cycling	UCI Road World Championships	Individuals	1927	Paolo Bettini (road race) Fabian Cancellara (time-trial) (2007)	2008	One year
	UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships	Individuals	1950	Lars Boom (2008)	2009	One year
	UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships	Individuals	1990	Winners in 6 events (2008)	2009	One year
	UCI Track Cycling World Championships	Individuals and nations	1893	Winners in 10 events (2008)	2009	One year
Darts	BDO World Darts Championship	Individuals	1978	Mark Webster (2008)	2009	One year
	PDC World Darts Championship	Individuals	1994	John Part (2008)	2009	One year
Equestrian see the mixed section below
Field hockey	Hockey World Cup	Nations	1971	Germany (2006)	2010	Four years
Figure skating	World Figure Skating Championships	Individuals	1896	Winners in 3 events (2008)	2009	One year
Fistball	Fistball World Championships	Nations	1968	Austria (2007)	2011	Four years
Futsal	FIFA Futsal World Cup	Nations	1989	Spain (2004)	2008	Four years
Gliding see the mixed section below
Golf	Mission Hills World Cup	Nations	1953	Scotland (2007)	2008	One year
Gymnastics	World Artistic Gymnastics Championships	Individuals	1903	Winners in 8 events (2007)	2009	One year
Handball	World Men's Handball Championship	Nations	1938	Germany (2007)	2009	Two years
Ice hockey	Ice Hockey World Championships	Nations	1920	Russia (2008)	2009	One year
	World Cup of Hockey	Nations	1996	Canada (2004)	Unknown	Intermittent
Lacrosse	World Lacrosse Championship	Nations	1967	Canada (2006)	2010	Four years
	World Indoor Lacrosse Championship	Nations	2003	Canada (2007)	2011	Four years
Motorcycle Ice Racing	World Individual Ice Racing Championship	Individuals	1966	Nikolai Krasnikov (2007)	2008	One year
	World Team Ice Racing Championship	Nations	1979	Russia (2007)	2008	One year
Motorcycling	FIM MotoGP Championship	Individuals	1949	Valentino Rossi (2008)	2009	One year
		Constructors		Yamaha (2008)
	FIM World Enduro Championship	Individuals	1990	Winners in 3 events (2007)	2008	One year
Nordic combined	FIS Nordic combined World Cup	Individuals	1983/84	Ronny Ackermann (2007/08)	2008/09	One year
Nordic skiing	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals	1925	Winners in 12 events (2007)	2009	Two years
Orienteering	World Orienteering Championships	Individuals	1966	Winners in 4 events (2008)	2009	One year
Pitch and putt	Pitch and Putt World Cup	Nations	2004	Catalonia (2006)	2008	Two years
Polo	World Polo Championship	Nations	1987	Chile (2008)	2011	Three years
Real tennis	Real Tennis World Championship	Individuals	1740	Winners in 3 events (2008)	2010	Two years
Rowing	World Rowing Championships	Nations	1962	Winners in 5 events (2008) and ... in 8 more events (2007)	2009	One year (but not for Olympic events in Olympic years)
	Rowing World Cup	Nations	1997	Winners in 8 events (2008)	2009	One year
Rugby league	Rugby League World Cup	Nations	1954	Australia (2000)	2008	Intermittent
Rugby union	Rugby World Cup	Nations	1987	South Africa (2007)	2011	Four years
Rugby union sevens	Rugby World Cup Sevens	Nations	1993	Fiji (2005)	2009	Four years
Sailing	ISAF Sailing World Championships	Crews	2003	Winners in 4 events (2007)	2011	Four years
	ISAF Match Racing World Championship	Individuals	1998	Peter Gilmour	2007	One year
Sculling	World Sculling Championship	Individuals	1831	Evans Fischer (1957)	Defunct
Shooting	ISSF World Cup	Individuals	1988	Winners in 9 events	2008	One year
	ISSF World Shooting Championships	Individuals and nations	1897	Winners in 69 events (2006)	2010	Four years
	ISSF World Shotgun Championships	Individuals and nations	1934	Winners in 12 events (2007)	2009	Two years
Ski jumping	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals normal hill	1962	Adam Małysz (2007)	2009	Two years
		Individuals large hill	1925	Simon Ammann (2007)	2009	Two years
		National Team normal hill	2001	Austria (2005)	Defunct	Only 2001 and 2005
		National Team large hill	1962	Austria (2007)	2009	Two years
	Ski flying World Championships	Individuals	1972	Gregor Schlierenzauer (2008)	2010	Two years
		National Team	2004	Austria (2008)	2010	Two years
	Ski jumping World Cup	Individuals	1979/80	Thomas Morgenstern (2007/08)	2008/09	One year
		National Team	?	Norway (2007/08)	2008/09	One year
Ski mountaineering	World Championships of Skimountaineering	Nations, individuals, teams, relays (since 2004), long distances (since 2008)	2002	Italy	2010	Two years
Snooker	World Snooker Championship	Individuals	1927	Ronnie O'Sullivan (2008)	2009	One year
Speed skating	World Allround Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1889	Sven Kramer (2008)	2009	One year
	World Sprint Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1970	Lee Kyu-Hyuk (2008)	2009	One year
	World Single Distance Championships	Individuals and Nations	1995	Winners in 6 events (2008)	2009	One year
	Speed Skating World Cup	Individuals and Nations	1985/86	Winners in 6 events (2007/08)	2008/09	One year
Speedway	Speedway World Team Cup (1960-2000) Speedway World Cup (since 2001)	National Team	1960	Denmark (2008)	2009	One year
	Speedway World Pairs Championship	National pair	1970	Sweden (1993)	Defunct	One year until 1993
	Individual Speedway World Championship (1936-1994) Speedway Grand Prix (since 1995)	Individuals	1936	Nicki Pedersen (2007)	2008	One year
Squash	World Open	Individuals	1976	Amr Shabana (2007)	2008	One year
	World Doubles Squash Championships	Doubles teams	1997	Winners in 2 events (2006)	2008	Two years
	World Team Squash Championships	Nations	1967	England (2007)	2009	Two years
Table tennis	World Table Tennis Championships	Individuals	1926	Winners in 3 events (2008)	2009	One year since 2003
	World Team Table Tennis Championships	Nations	1926	China (2008)	2010	Two years
Ten-Pin Bowling	WTBA World Championships	Nations	1954	Winners in 6 events (2006)	2008	Two years
	QubicaAMF World Cup	Individuals	1965	Bill Hoffman (2007)	2008	One year
	World Ten-pin Team Cup	Nations	1994	USA (2004)	Defunct	Two years until 2004
Tennis	Davis Cup	Nations	1900	United States (2007)	2008	One year
	Tennis World Champion named by the ITF	Individuals	1978	Roger Federer (2007)	2008	One year
	Tennis World Champions named by the ITF	Doubles teams	1996	Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan (2007)	2008	One year
	World Championship Tennis	Individuals	1971	John McEnroe (1989)	Defunct	One year until 1989
Touch Football	Touch Football World Cup	Nations	1988	Australia (2007)	2011	Four years
Volleyball	Volleyball World Cup	Nations	1965	Brazil (2007)	2011	Four years
	Volleyball World Championship	Nations	1949	Brazil (2006)	2010	Four years

Women

! Sport

! Competition name

! Competing
entities

! First
held

! Current holder

! Next

! Held every

Alpine skiing	FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup	Individuals	1967	Lindsey Vonn (overall) Winners in 5 events (2007/08)	2008/09	One year
		Nations		Austria (2007/08)
	FIS Alpine World Ski Championships	Individuals	1931	Winners in 5 events (2007)	2009	Two years
Aquatics	FINA World Aquatics Championships	Individuals	1973	Winners in 20 events (2007)	2009	Two years
	FINA World Championships - Short Course	Individuals	1993	Winners in 20 events (2008)	2010	Two years
	FINA Swimming World Cup	Individuals	1988/89	Therese Alshammar (2007)	2008	One year
	FINA Water Polo World Cup	Nations	1979	Australia (2006)	2010	Four years
Association Football (soccer)	FIFA Women's World Cup	Nations	1991	Germany (2007)	2011	Four years
Athletics (track and field)	IAAF World Cup in Athletics	Nations and continents	1977	Russia (2006)	2010	Originally two years, now four years
	IAAF World Championships in Athletics	Individuals	1983	Winners in 23 events (2007)	2009	Originally four years, now two years
	IAAF World Indoor Championships	Individuals	1985	Winners in 13 events (2008)	2010	Two years
Auto racing see the mixed section below
Badminton	BWF World Championships	Individuals	1977	Winners in 3 events (2007)	2008	One year
Bandy	Bandy World Championships	Nations	2004	Sweden (2008)	2009	One year
Baseball	Women's Baseball World Cup	Nations	2004	Japan (2008)	2010	Two years
Basketball	FIBA World Championship for Women	Nations	1953	Australia (2006)	2010	Originally intermittent, now four years
Biathlon	Biathlon World Cup	Individuals	1982/83	Magdalena Neuner (2007/08)	2008/09	One year
		Nations	1996/97	Germany (2007/08)
Boxing	World Amateur Boxing Championships	Individuals	2001	Winners in 13 weight classes (2006)	Unknown	Unknown
Cross-country skiing	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals	1954	Winners in 6 events (2007)	2009	Two years
	Cross-country skiing World Cup	Individuals	1978/79	Virpi Kuitunen (overall) Petra Majdič (sprint) (2007/08)	2008/09	One year
Cricket	Women's Cricket World Cup (one-day)	Nations	1973	Australia (2005)	2009	Four years
Curling	World Curling Championships	Nations	1979	Canada (2008)	2009	One year
Cycling	UCI Road World Championships	Individuals	1927	Marta Bastianelli (road race) Hanka Kupfernagel (time trial) (2007)	2008	One year
	UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships	Individuals	1990	Winners in 4 events (2008)	2009	One year
	UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships	Individuals	2000	Hanka Kupfernagel (2008)	2009	One year
Equestrian see the mixed section below
Field hockey	Women's Hockey World Cup	Nations	1974	Netherlands (2006)	2010	Four years
Figure skating	World Figure Skating Championships	Individuals	1896	Winners in 3 events (2008)	2009	One year
Gliding	Women's World Gliding Championships	Individuals	2001	Winners in 3 classes (2007)	2009	Two years
Golf	Women's World Cup of Golf	Nations	2005	Philippines (2008)	2009	One year
Gymnastics	World Artistic Gymnastics Championships	Individuals and Nations	1903	Winners in 6 events (2007)	2009	One year, except Olympic years
	World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships	Individuals and Nations	1963	Winners in 9 events (2007)	2009	Two years
Handball	World Women's Handball Championship	Nations	1957	Russia (2007)	2009	Two years
Ice Hockey	IIHF World Women Championships	Nations	1990	United States (2008)	2009	One year
Lacrosse	Women's Lacrosse World Cup	Nations	1982	Australia (2005)	2009	Four years
Netball	Netball World Championships	Nations	1963	Australia (2007)	2011	Four years
Orienteering	World Orienteering Championships	Individuals	1966	Winners in 4 events (2008)	2009	One year
Real tennis	Real Tennis World Championship	Individuals	1740	Winners in 2 events (2007)	2009	Two years
Ringette	World Ringette Championships	Team	1990	Finland	2009	Two years
Rowing	World Rowing Championships	Nations	1974	Winners in 3 events (2008)	2009	One year
	Rowing World Cup	Nations	1997	Winners in 6 events (2008)	2009	One year
Rugby league	Women's Rugby League World Cup	Nations	2000	New Zealand (2005)	2008	Intermittent
Rugby union	Women's Rugby World Cup	Nations	1991	New Zealand (2006)	2010	Four years
Sailing	ISAF Sailing World Championships	Crews	2003	Winners in 4 events (2007)	2011	Four years
	ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship	Individuals	1999	Claire Leroy	2008	One year
Shooting	ISSF World Cup	Individuals	1988	Winners in 6 events (2007)	2008	One year
	ISSF World Shooting Championships	Individuals and nations	1958	Winners in 23 events (2006)	2010	Four years
	World Shotgun Championships	Individuals and nations	1967	Winners in 4 events (2007)	2009	Two years
Ski mountaineering	World Championships of Skimountaineering	Nations, individuals, teams, relays (since 2004), long distances (since 2008)	2002	Italy	2010	Two years
Softball	ISF Women's World Championship	Nations	1965	United States (2006)	2010	Four years
Speed skating	World Allround Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1933	Paulien van Deutekom (2008)	2009	One year
	World Sprint Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1970	Jenny Wolf (2008)	2009	One year
	World Single Distance Championships	Individuals and Nations	1995	Winners in 6 events (2008)	2009	One year
	Speed Skating World Cup	Individuals and Nations	1985/86	Winners in 6 events (2007/08)	2008-09	One year
Squash	World Open	Individuals	1979	Rachael Grinham (2007)	2008	One year
	World Doubles Squash Championships	Doubles teams	1997	Winners in 2 events (2006)	2008	Two years
	World Team Squash Championships	Nations	1979	England (2006)	2008	Two years
Table tennis	World Table Tennis Championships	Individuals	1926	Winners in 3 events (2008)	2010	Two years
	World Team Table Tennis Championships	Nations	2000 (1926)	China (2006)	2008	Two years
Ten-Pin Bowling	WTBA World Championships	Nations	1963	Winners in 6 events (2007)	2009	Two years
	QubicaAMF World Cup	Individuals	1972	Ann-Maree Putney (2007)	2008	One year
	World Ten-pin Team Cup	Nations	1994	England (2004)	Defunct	Two years until 2004
Tennis	Fed Cup	Nations	1963	Russia (2007)	2008	One year
	Tennis World Champion named by the ITF	Individuals	1978	Justine Henin (2007)	2008	One year
	Tennis World Champions named by the ITF	Doubles teams	1996	Cara Black & Liezel Huber (2007)	2008	One year
Touch Rugby	Touch Football World Cup	Nations	1988	Australia (2007)	2011	Four years
Volleyball	Volleyball World Cup	Nations	1973	Italy (2007)	2011	Four years
	Volleyball World Championship	Nations	1952	Russia (2006)	2010	Four years

Mixed

! Sport

! Competition name

! Competing entities

! First
held

! Current holder

! Next

! Held every

Auto racing	Formula One World Championship	Individuals	1950	Kimi Räikkönen (2007)	2008	One year
		Constructors	1958	Scuderia Ferrari (2007)
	World Rally Championship	Individuals	1977	Sébastien Loeb (2007)	2008	One year
		Manufacturers	1973	Ford (2007)
	World Touring Car Championship	Individuals	1987	Andy Priaulx (2007)	2008	One year
		Manufacturers		BMW (2007)
	World Manufacturers' Championship	Manufacturers	1925	Delage (1927)	Defunct	One year until 1927
	World Sportscar Championship	Constructors; from 1985 teams	1953	Winners in several classes	Defunct	One year until 1992
		Individuals	1981		Defunct	One year until 1992
Equestrian	FEI World Equestrian Games	Individuals	1990	Winners in 16 events (2006)	2010	Four years
	Show Jumping World Cup	Individuals	1979	Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum / Shutterfly (2008)	2009	One year
Glider aerobatics	FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championships	Individuals	1985	Georgij Kaminski (2007)	2009	Two years
		Nations		Hungary (2007)
Gliding	World Gliding Championships	Individuals	1937	Winners in 6 classes (2008)	2010	Two years
Korfball	Korfball World Championship	Nations	1978	Netherlands (2007)	2011	Four years
Sailing	ISAF Sailing World Championships	Crews	2003	Winners in 3 events (2007)	2011	Four years
	ISAF Team Racing World Championships	Nations	1995	USA	2007	Two years

Notes

    R.  - One or more relay events, in which three or four competitors compete for their nation, are included for each sex.
    D.  - Includes three Doubles events, one for men, one for women, and one for mixed doubles.