The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is France, which won its second title at the 2018 tournament in Russia.
Association football has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition sport, except 1896 and 1932. Women's football was added to the official program in 1996.
The Men's Hockey World Cup is an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The tournament was started in 1971. It is held every four years, bridging the four years between the Summer Olympics.
The International Baseball Federation is the former worldwide governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee as overseeing, deciding and executing the policy of the sport of baseball. The IBAF has since become the international baseball "Division" of the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the officially recognized world governing body for baseball. One of its principal responsibilities under the WBSC is to organize, standardize and sanction international competitions among baseball's 124 national governing bodies through its various tournaments to determine a world champion and calculate world rankings for both men's and women's baseball. Prior to the establishment of the WBSC, which has since superseded its authority, the IBAF had been the lone entity that can assign the title of "world champion" to any baseball team delegated to represent a nation. Its offices are housed within the WBSC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland—the Olympic Capital.
Sport in Ireland plays an important role in Irish society. The many sports played and followed in Ireland include association football, Gaelic games, horse racing, show jumping, greyhound racing, basketball, fishing, handball, motor sport, boxing, tennis, hockey, golf, rowing, cricket, and rugby union.
The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was an annual women's volleyball competition created in 1993, The men's version of the competition was called World League. This event should not be confused with the other international volleyball competitions, the World Championship, the World Cup and the World Grand Champions Cup.
Sport in New Zealand largely reflects its British colonial heritage, with some of the most popular sports being rugby union, rugby league, cricket, football (soccer), basketball and netball which are primarily played in Commonwealth countries. New Zealand is a small nation but has enjoyed success in many sports, notably rugby union, rugby league, cricket, America's Cup sailing, world championship and Olympics events and motorsport and softball.
College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is normally played by men.
The Chatham Cup, currently known as the ISPS Handa Chatham Cup for sponsorship purposes, is New Zealand's premier knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are Birkenhead United, who defeated Western Suburbs on penalties in the 2018 final.
The most popular sport in Mexico is association football followed by boxing. However, there are regional variations: for example, baseball is the most popular sport in the northwest and the southeast of the country. Basketball, American football and bull riding are also popular.
The NCAA Division I Softball Tournament is held annually in May/June and features 64 college softball teams in the United States, culminating in the Women's College World Series (WCWS), which is played in Oklahoma City.
USA Softball is the governing body for the United States national softball team. In addition, it oversees more than 150,000 amateur teams nationwide. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
The Japan women's national softball team is the national team of Japan in international softball competitions. It is governed by the Japan Softball Association. They are currently ranked #1 in the world by the International Softball Federation. In four Olympic Games, since 1996 until 2008, Japan has won one gold medal, a silver medal and a bronze medal. In the top four nations at the Olympics, Japan is the second most successful national team, following the United States, and beating out Australia and China with one silver medal. After winning the Gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Japanese national team was defeated by the United States team at the XII Women's Softball World Championship in Caracas, Venezuela.
The United States women's national softball team is the national softball team of the United States. It is governed by USA Softball and takes part in international softball competitions. The US team has been dominant in international play, taking the gold medal in three straight Olympics and seven straight world championships. They won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In the 2004 Olympics the team held its opponents to one run scored in 7 games. The lone run came in a 5-1 victory over the Australian team. It was the first run scored by an opponent against the US softball team in 9 games.
The UMass Minutemen are the athletic teams that represent the University of Massachusetts Amherst; strictly speaking, the Minutemen nickname applies to men's teams and athletes only — women's teams and athletes are known as Minutewomen. The Minutemen and Minutewomen compete in NCAA Division I sports competition primarily as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. UMass is one of only 16 universities in the nation that plays Division I FBS football and Division I men's ice hockey. The nickname is also applied to club teams that do not participate within the NCAA structure.
Fastpitch softball, also known as fastpitch or fastball, is a form of softball played commonly by women and men, though coed fast-pitch leagues also exist. The International Softball Federation (ISF) is the international governing body of softball. The ISF recognizes three pitching styles: fast pitch, "modified" fast pitch, and slow pitch. Fast pitch is considered the most competitive form of softball. It is the form of softball that was played at the Olympic Games in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008. The fast pitch style is also used in college softball and international competition.
The FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The initial gap between championships was variable, but since 1962 they have been awarded every four years. The current champion is Poland, which won its third title at the 2018 tournament defending the championship title.
The FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. Initially the tournament was played in the year following the Olympic Games, except for 1973 when no tournament was held, but since 1991 the World Cup has been awarded in the year preceding the Olympic Games. The current champion is United States, which won its second title at the 2015 tournament.
The FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. Initially the tournament was played in the year following the Olympic Games, but since 1991 the World Cup has been awarded in the year preceding the Olympic Games. The current champion is China, which won its fourth title at the 2015 tournament.
These are lists of achievements in major senior-level international Olympic team ball sports tournaments according to first-place, second-place and third-place results obtained by teams representing different nations. The objective is not to create combined medal tables; the focus is on listing the best positions achieved by teams in major international tournaments, ranking the nations according to the most number of podiums accomplished by teams of these nations.
