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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.

Contents

Men

Women

Mixed

Notes

Men

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Alpine skiing	FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup	Individuals	1967	Aksel Lund Svindal (overall) Winners in 4 events	2007/08	One year
		Nations		Austria
	FIS Alpine World Skiing Championships	Individuals	1931	Winners in 5 events	2009	Two years
American football	IFAF World Cup	Nations	1999	United States	2011	Four years
Aquatics	FINA World Championships - Long Course a.k.a. World Aquatics Championships	Individuals	1973	Winners in 31 events	2009	Two years
	FINA World Championships - Short Course	Individuals	1993	Winners in 21 events	2008	Two years
	FINA Swimming World Cup	Individuals	1989	Ryk Neethling	2007	One year
Athletics (track and field)	IAAF World Cup in Athletics	Nations and continents	1977	Europe	2010	Originally two years, now four years
	IAAF World Championships in Athletics	Individuals	1983	Winners in 24 events	2007	Originally four years, now two years
	IAAF World Indoor Championships	Individuals	1985	Winners in 13 events	2008	Two years
Australian rules football	Australian Football International Cup	Nations	2002	New Zealand Falcons	2008	Three years
Auto racing ''see the mixed section below''[1]
Badminton	IBF World Championships	Individuals	1977	Winners in 3 events	2007	Two years
Bandy	Bandy World Cup	Clubs	1974	Dynamo Moscow	2007	One year
	Bandy World Championships	Nations	1957	Russia	2008	One year[2]
Baseball	Baseball World Cup	Nations	1938	Cuba	2007	Two years
	World Baseball Classic	Nations	2006	Japan	2009	Four years after 2009
Basketball	FIBA World Championship	Nations	1950	Spain	2010	Four years
Biathlon	Biathlon World Cup	Individuals	1977/78	Michael Greis	2007/08	One year
		Nations	1996/97	Germany
Billiards (Pool)	World Cup of Pool	Nations	2006	Philippines	2007	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 several weight classes	2007	Two years
	Boxing World Cup	Nations	2005?	Cuba	2007	One year
Canoeing	ICF Flatwater Racing World Championships	Individuals	1938	Winners in 27 events	2007	One year[3]
Cricket (one-day)	Cricket World Cup	Nations	1975	Australia	2011	Four years
Cross-country skiing	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals	1925	Winners in several events	2009	Two years
	Cross-country skiing World Cup	Individuals	1973/74	Tobias Angerer (overall) Jens Arne Svartedal (sprint)	2007/08	One year
Curling	World Curling Championships	Nations	1959	Canada	2008	One year
Cycling	UCI Road World Championships	Individuals	1927	Paolo Bettini (road race) Fabian Cancellara (time-trial)	2007	One year
	UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships	Individuals	1950	Erwin Vervecken	2008	One year
	UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships	Individuals	1990	Winners in 6 events	2007	One year
Equestrian ''see the mixed section below''[4]
Field hockey	World Hockey Cup	Nations	1971	Germany	2010	Four years
Figure skating	World Figure Skating Championships	Individuals[5]	1896	Winners in 3 events	2008	One year
Fistball	Fistball World Championships	Nations	1968	Brazil	Aug. 2007	Four years
Football (soccer)	FIFA World Cup	Nations	1930	Italy	2010	Four years
	VIVA World Cup	Nations	2006	Sápmi	2008	Two years
	FIFA Club World Cup	Clubs	2000	Sport Club Internacional	2007	One year
Futsal	FIFA Futsal World Championship	Nations	1989	Spain	2008	Four years
Gliding	World Gliding Championships	Individuals	1937	Winners in 6 events	2007	Two years[6]
Golf	WGC-World Cup	Nations	1953	Germany	2007	One year
Gymnastics	World Artistic Gymnastics Championships	Individuals	1903	Winners in 6 events	2007	One year
Handball	World Men's Handball Championship	Nations	1938	Germany	2009	Two years
Ice hockey	Ice Hockey World Championships	Nations	1920	Canada	2008	One year
	World Cup of Hockey	Nations	1996	Canada (2004)	Unknown[7]	Intermittent
Lacrosse	World Lacrosse Championship	Nations	1967	Canada	2010	Four years
	World Indoor Lacrosse Championship	Nations	2003	Canada	2011	Four years
Motorcycling	FIM MotoGP Championship	Individuals	1949	Nicky Hayden	2007	One year
		Constructors		Honda
	FIM World Enduro Championship	Individuals	1990	Winners in 3 events	2007	One year
Nordic combined	FIS Nordic combined World Cup	Individuals	1983/84	Hannu Manninen	2007/08	One year
Nordic skiing	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals	1925	Winners in 12 events	2009	Two years
Orienteering	World Orienteering Championships	Individuals	1966	Winners in 4 events	2007	One year
Pitch and putt	Pitch and Putt World Cup	Nations	2004	Catalonia	2008	Two years
Real tennis	Real Tennis World Championship	Individuals	1740	Winners in 3 events	2008	Two years
Rowing	World Rowing Championships	Nations	1962	Winners in 14 events	2007	One year
Rugby league	Rugby League World Cup	Nations	1954	Australia	2008	Intermittent
Rugby union	Rugby World Cup	Nations	1987	England	2007	Four years
Rugby union sevens	Rugby World Cup Sevens	Nations	1993	Fiji	2009	Four years
Sailing	ISAF Sailing World Championships	Crews	2003	Winners in 4 events	2011	Four years
	ISAF Match Racing World Championship	Individuals	1998	Peter Gilmour	2007	One year
Shooting	ISSF World Cup	Individuals	1988	Winners in 9 events	2007	One year
	ISSF World Shooting Championships	Individuals	1897	Winners in 66 events	2010	Four years
	ISSF World Shotgun Championships	Individuals	1934	Winners in 12 events	2007	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	Roar Ljøkelsøy (2006)	2008	Two years
		National Team	2004	Norway (2006)	2008	Two years
	Ski jumping World Cup	Individuals	1979/80	Adam Małysz (2006/07)	2007/08	One year
		National Team	?	Austria (2006/07)	2007/08	One year
Snooker	World Snooker Championship	Individuals	1927	John Higgins	2007	One year
Speed skating	World Allround Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1889	Sven Kramer	2008	One year
	World Sprint Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1970	Lee Kyu-Hyuk	2008	One year
	World Single Distance Championships	Individuals	1995	Winners in 6 events	2008	One year
	Speed Skating World Cup	Individuals	1985/86	Winners in 4 events	2007/08	One year
Speedway	Speedway World Team Cup (1960-2000) Speedway World Cup (since 2001)	National Team	1960	Poland (2007)	2008	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	Jason Crump (2006)	2007	One year
Squash	World Open	Individuals	1976	David Palmer	2007	One year
	World Doubles Squash Championships	Doubles teams	1997	Winners in 2 events	2008	Two years
	World Team Squash Championships	Nations	1967	England	2007	Two years
Table tennis	World Table Tennis Championships	Individuals	1926	Winners in 3 events	2009	Two years
	World Team Table Tennis Championships	Nations	2000 (1926)	China (2006)	2008	Two years
Ten-Pin Bowling	WTBA World Championships	Nations	1954	Winners in 6 events	2007	Two years
	QubicaAMF World Cup	Individuals	1965	Osku Palermaa	2007	One year
	World Ten-pin Team Cup	Nations	1994	USA (2004)	Defunct	Two years until 2004
Tennis	Davis Cup[8]	Nations	1900	Croatia	2007	One year
	Tennis World Champion named by the ITF	Individuals	1978	Roger Federer	2007	One year
	World Championship Tennis	Individuals	1967	John McEnroe (1989)	Defunct	One year until 1989
Touch Rugby	Touch Football World Cup	Nations	1988	Australia	2007	Four years
Volleyball	Volleyball World Cup	Nations	1965	Brazil	2007	Four years
	Volleyball World Championship	Nations	1949	Brazil	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	Nicole Hosp (overall) Winners in 4 events	2007/08	One year
		Nations		Austria
	FIS Alpine World Skiing Championships	Individuals	1931	Winners in 5 events	2009	Two years
Aquatics	FINA World Championships - Long Course a.k.a. World Aquatics Championships	Individuals	1973	Winners in 31 events	2009	Two years
	FINA World Championships - Short Course	Individuals	1993	Winners in 21 events	2006	Two years
	FINA Swimming World Cup	Individuals	1989	Therese Alshammar	2007	One year
Athletics (track and field)	IAAF World Cup in Athletics	Nations and continents	1977	Russia	2010	Originally two years, now four years
	IAAF World Championships in Athletics	Individuals	1983	Winners in 23 events	2007	Originally four years, now two years
	IAAF World Indoor Championships	Individuals	1985	Winners in 13 events	2008	Two years
Auto racing ''see the mixed section below''[1]
Badminton	BWF World Championships	Individuals	1977	Winners in 3 events	2007	One year
Bandy	Bandy World Championships	Nations	2004	Sweden	2008	One year[10]
Basketball	FIBA World Championship for Women	Nations	1953	Australia	2010	Originally intermittent, now four years
Biathlon	Biathlon World Cup	Individuals	1982/83	Andrea Henkel	2007/08	One year
		Nations	1996/97	Germany
Boxing	World Amateur Boxing Championships	Individuals	2001	Winners in several weight classes	2007	One year
Cross-country skiing	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals	1954	Winners in several events	2009	Two years
	Cross-country skiing World Cup	Individuals	1978/79	Virpi Kuitunen (overall and sprint)	2007/08	One year
Curling	World Curling Championships	Nations	1979	Canada	2008	One year
Cycling	UCI Road World Championships	Individuals	1927	Marianne Vos (road race) Kristin Armstrong (time trial)	2007	One year
	Mountain Bike World Championships	Individuals	1990	Winners in 4 events	2007	One year
	UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships	Individuals	1950	Marianne Vos	2007	One year
Equestrian ''see the mixed section below'' [4]
Field hockey	Women's Hockey World Cup	Nations	1974	Netherlands	2010	Four years
Figure skating	World Figure Skating Championships	Individuals[5]	1896	Winners in 3 events	2008	One year
Football (soccer)	FIFA Women's World Cup	Nations	1991	Germany	2007	Four years
Gliding	World Gliding Championships	Individuals	2001	Winners in 3 events	2007	Two years[6]
Golf	Women's World Cup of Golf	Nations	2005	Sweden	2007	One year
Gymnastics	World Artistic Gymnastics Championships	Individuals	1903	Winners in 6 events	2007	One year
	World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships	Individuals and Nations	1963	Winners in 9 events	2007	Two years[14]
Handball	World Women's Handball Championship	Nations	1957	Russia	2007	Two years
Ice Hockey	IIHF World Women Championships	Nations	1990	Canada	2008	One year
Lacrosse	Women's Lacrosse World Cup	Nations	1982	Australia	2009	Four years
Netball	Netball World Championships	Nations	1963	New Zealand	2007	Four years
Nordic skiing	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals	1954	Winners in 6 events	2009	Two years
Orienteering	World Orienteering Championships	Individuals	1966	Winners in 4 events	2007	One year
Real tennis	Real Tennis World Championship	Individuals	1740	Winners in 3 events	2008	Two years
Rowing	World Rowing Championship	Nations	1974	Winners in 10 events	2007	One year
Rugby league	Women's Rugby League World Cup	Nations	2000	New Zealand	2008	Intermittent
Rugby union	Women's Rugby World Cup	Nations	1991	New Zealand	2010	Four years
Sailing	ISAF Sailing World Championships	Crews	2003	Winners in 4 events	2011	Four years
	ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship	Individuals	1999	Claire Leroy	2008	One year
Shooting	ISSF World Cup	Nations	1988	Winners in 6 events	2007	One year
	ISSF World Shooting Championships	Individuals	1897	Winners in 39 events	2010	Four years
	World Shotgun Championships	Individuals	1934	Winners in 7 events	2007	Two years
Speed skating	World Allround Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1933	Ireen Wüst	2008	One year
	World Sprint Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1970	Anni Friesinger	2008	One year
	World Single Distance Championships	Individuals	1995	Winners in 6 events	2008	One year
	Speed Skating World Cup	Individuals	1985/86	Winners in 4 events	2007/08	One year
Squash	World Open	Individuals	1979	Nicol David	2007	One year
	World Doubles Squash Championships	Doubles teams	1997	Winners in 2 events	2008	Two years
	World Team Squash Championships	Nations	1979	England	2008	Two years
Table tennis	World Table Tennis Championships	Individuals	1926	Winners in 3 events	2009	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	2008	Two years
	QubicaAMF World Cup	Individuals	1972	Diandra Asbaty	2007	One year
	World Ten-pin Team Cup	Nations	1994	England (2004)	Defunct	Two years until 2004
Tennis	Fed Cup[15]	Nations	1963	Italy	2007	One year
Touch Rugby	Touch Football World Cup	Nations	1988	Australia	2007	Four years
Volleyball	Volleyball World Cup	Nations	1973	China	2007	Four years
	Volleyball World Championship	Nations	1952	Russia	2010	Four years

Mixed

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Held every
Auto racing	Formula One World Championship	Individuals	1950	Fernando Alonso	2007	One year
		Constructors	1958	Renault
	A1 Grand Prix	Nations	2005/06	Germany	2007/08	One year
	World Rally Championship	Individuals	1977	Sébastien Loeb	2007	One year
		Manufacturers	1973	Ford
	World Touring Car Championship	Individuals	1987	Andy Priaulx	2007	One year
		Manufacturers		BMW
	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	World Equestrian Games	Individuals	1990	Winners in 7 events	2010	Four years
	Show Jumping World Cup	Individuals	1979	Beat Mändli / Ideo du Thot	2008	One year
Sailing	ISAF Sailing World Championships	Crews	2003	Winners in 3 events	2011	Four years
	ISAF Team Racing World Championships	Nations	1995	USA	2007	Two years
Korfball	Korfball World Championship	Nations	1978	The Netherlands	2007	Four years

Notes

1. Auto racing events make no distinction between male and female competitors
2. The second Bandy World Championships were held in 1961 and the championships were held every two years from then on and every year since 2003
3. Flatwater Racing canoeing world championships take place every year, except years in which a Summer Olympic Games is held
4. Equestrian events make no distinction between male and female competitors
5. Includes the Pairs and Ice Dance events, shared between male and female skaters
6. The duration between World Gliding Championships varies slightly, dependent on the hemisphere of the next planned edition
7. The World Cup of Hockey was held in 1996 and 2004. A further event is not currently planned
8. Davis Cup is not formally a world championship, but is traditionally held as equivalent in status
9. Auto racing events make no distinction between male and female competitors
10. Every year since 2006
11. Equestrian events make no distinction between male and female competitors
12. Includes the Pairs and Ice Dance events, shared between male and female skaters
13. The duration between World Gliding Championships varies slightly, dependent on the hemisphere of the next planned edition
14. Changed from 2005.
15. Fed Cup is not formally a world championship, but is traditionally held as equivalent in status. It was called Federation Cup until 1995.

    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.