World championship
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A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, or ability.
How the championship title is assigned
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The title is usually awarded through a combination of specific contests or, less commonly,
Certain competitive exercises do not have a world championship or a world cup as such, but may have one or several world champions. Professional
Still other competitions, most commonly in professional sports, may or may not have a true world championship but may designate the winners of a domestic competition to be "world champions." This is especially true of the "Big Four" major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada; world cups and championships exist in all four of the major sports, but the domestic U.S. and Canadian leagues are generally known as the world professional championships (due to the best players worldwide being in the league itself) (as with the Stanley Cup, ostensibly an independent championship for ice hockey but under the de facto control of the National Hockey League through two trustees who since no later than 1947 have been NHL loyalists) or the equivalent of a world club championship. In American football, although an IFAF World Championship exists, the United States is so far above and beyond the other nations it faces that the winner of the U.S.-based Super Bowl, a competition limited to the 32 teams in the National Football League, is commonly nicknamed as the world champion by the players, the press and fans alike; the NFL itself explicitly marketed the contest as a world championship in its first iterations.[1] Winners of the Major League Baseball's World Series are also commonly called world champions. Outside of the Big Four leagues, winners of the Women's National Basketball Association, much like its men's counterpart, commonly call themselves world champions, as with the winners of the National Lacrosse League and Drum Corps International.[2]
On the other hand,
Finally, certain competitions do not have a world championship or world cup, but rather hold a series of events recognised as the elite level in their field (e.g. tennis and golf have a series of four Grand Slam events recognised as the pinnacle of the game, in addition to key team events, world tour finals and the Olympic Games, though each year ITF (International Tennis Federation) designates a World Champion based on performances throughout the year).
History
There are some sports that already had a 'world championship' in the 18th or 19th century, although it was variable how 'world-wide' these competitions really were. The French player
Other sports with early 'world championships' were English draughts (1840) and speed skating.
Overview
See the following lists for the various sports with a world championship.
- List of world sports championships, for physical sports
- List of world championships in mind sports, including several other activities like competitions in professional activities
Other competition names
- Beatbox Battle World Championship
- Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
- World Conker Championships
- World Pea Shooting Championships
- World Pie Eating Championship
- World Championship of Ping Pong
See also
- List of world sports championships
- World cup
- List of world cups
- List of world cups and world championships for juniors and youth
References
- ^ Evans, Simon (February 3, 2011). "Super Bowl contenders happy with world champions title". Reuters. Archived from the original on January 19, 2016. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
- ^ "Gregg Popovich has a problem with your "world" champions". NBC Sports. March 29, 2010.
- ^ "When Sunderland AFC Were World Champions! – Ryehill Football". Archived from the original on 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
- ^ "FIFA Club World Championship TOYOTA Cup: Solidarity – the name of the game" (PDF). FIFA Activity Report 2005. Zurich: Fédération Internationale de Football Association: 60. April 2004 – May 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2012.