China has retained its place as the leading global sports nation for 2013, according to the second annual edition of the Sportcal report that analyses the success of nations in attracting major sports events.
The Global Sports Impact (GSI) Project is an extensive study by Sportcal, the leading sports market research company, which has analysed over 700 major sporting events between 2008 and 2019.
Canada is the most significant mover in the top 20 up three places to second. This is due to a strong period of landing world championships in curling, swimming and ice hockey, as well two major events slated for 2015: Pan American Games and the Fifa Women’s World Cup.
Russia retains third spot, while the UK has dropped two spots to fourth. The UK will be confident of regaining ground in the years to come when the ‘Gold Event Series’ kicks into gear. The campaign is run by UK Sport, the sports funding and administration body and the government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Gold Event Series aims to bring a total of 70 top sports events to the country over the next six years, more than half of which will be either world or European championships in the likes of diving, field hockey, figure skating and boxing.
UK Sport Director of Major Events and International Relations Simon Morton said: “We are entering a very busy period of bidding, with several live bids currently underway, including the 2016 Track Cycling World Championships and 2016 European Swimming Championships, both set to be hosted in London 2012 venues, and the World Figure Skating Championships, which would be hosted in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Hydro Arena.
“As we continue to work towards our target of securing 70 events as part of our Gold Event Series over the next six years, we are confident we will remain a top tier hosting nation for the foreseeable future, and want to consolidate our position at the top of the Global Sports Nation Index.”
View the Top Twenty Global Sports Nations 2013 here.
Global Sports Impact has been developed through a consultative process involving a wide range of experts and academics and has been supported by a variety of government organisations and academic institutions. Each event is given a global sports index weighting based on a set of criteria which has been determined by over 200 sports industry experts. Lead partners of the project are UK Sport and Singapore Sports Council with supporting partners JTA and Sagacity. ISEAL from Victoria, Melbourne are the lead academic partner with support from other academic institutes throughout the world.