List of world sports championships

The following is a list of world championships, including some sporting events which use a different name 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.

Male

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Frequency	Details & notes
Alpine skiing	FIS Alpine World Skiing Championships	Individuals	1931	Winners in 5 events (2013)	2015	Biennial
	IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships	Individuals	1972	Winners in 15 events (2013)	2015	Biennial
American football	IFAF World Championship	Nations	1999	United States (2011)	2015	Quadrennial
Aquatics	FINA World Aquatics Championships	Individuals[R]	1973	Winners in 30 events (2013)	2015	Biennial
	FINA Diving World Cup	Individuals	1979	Most medals: China	2016	Biennial
	FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)	Individuals[R]	1993	Winners in 20 events (2012)	2016	Biennial
	FINA Water Polo World Cup	Nations	1979	Serbia (2014)	2018	Quadrennial	Biennially until 2002
	FINA Water Polo World Championship	Nations	1973	United States (2013)	2015	Biennial	Biennially since 2001
Archery	World Archery Championships	Individual recurve	1931	Lee Seung-Yun (2013)	2015	Biennial
		Individual compound	1995	Mike Schloesser (2013)	2015	Biennial
		Team recurve	1931	United States (2013)	2015	Biennial
		Team compound	1995	Denmark (2013)	2015	Biennial
Artistic gymnastics	World Artistic Gymnastics Championships	Individuals	1903	Winners in 7 events (2013)	2015	Annual	Not held in Summer Olympic years.
Association football	FIFA World Cup	Nations	1930	Germany (2014)	2018	Quadrennial
	FIFA Confederations Cup	Nations	1992	Brazil (2013)	2017	Quadrennial
	FIFA Club World Cup	Clubs	2000	Real Madrid (2014)	2015	Annual
	VIVA World Cup	Nations	2006	Iraqi Kurdistan (2012)	2014	Two years since 2010
Athletics	IAAF World Championships in Athletics	Individuals[R]	1983	Winners in 24 events (2013)	2015	Biennial	1983–1991 held quadrennially, biennially starting 1993
	IAAF World Cup in Athletics	Nations and continents	1977	Europe (both 2010 and 2014)	2014	Quadrennial	Originally biennially
	IAAF World Indoor Championships	Individuals[R]	1985	Winners in 13 events (2014)	2016	Biennial
	IAAF World Cross Country Championships	Individuals and teams	1973	Winners in 4 events (2013)	2015	Biennial
	IAAF World Half Marathon Championships	Individuals and teams	1992	Winners in 2 events (2012)	2014	Annual
	IAU 100 km World Championships	Individuals and teams	1987	Cancelled for 2013 event	2014	Annual
	IAU 24 hour World Championships	Individuals and teams	2001	Michael Morton (2012)	2013	Annual
IPC Athletics World Championships	Individuals	1994	Winners in 118 events (2013)	2015	Biennial
Australian rules football	Australian Football International Cup	Team	2002	Ireland (2011)	2014	Triennial
Auto racing see the open section below[1]
Badminton	BWF World Championships	Individuals[D]	1977	Winners in 5 events (2011)	Winners in 2 events (2013)	Annual	Annually since 2006; Not held in Summer Olympic years.
	Thomas Cup	Nations	1949	Japan (2014)	2016	Biennial	Since 1984, it has been held concurrently with the women's Uber Cup.
Bandy	Bandy World Championship	Nations	1957	Russia (2015)	2016	Annual	The second Bandy WCs were held in 1961; from that point, the championships were held biennially until 2003; and annually since.
	Bandy World Cup	Clubs	1974	Västerås (2014)	2015	Annual
Baseball	Baseball World Cup	Nations	1938	Netherlands (2011)	Defunct	Biennial	.
	World Baseball Classic	Nations	2006	Dominican Republic (2013)	2017	Quadrennial	Started in 1938 (as IBAF Baseball World Cup); Restarted in 2006; the first two of these modern WBCs (MLB approved and sanctioned by IBAF) were separated by three years (2006, 2009); moved to quadrennially in 2013 and after.
Basketball	FIBA Basketball World Cup	Nations	1950	United States (2014)	2019	Quadrennial	After the 2014 edition, the FIBA Basketball World Cup (but not the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup) will be reset on a new quadrennial cycle. The 2014 (men's) World Cup will be followed by the 2019 World Cup, avoiding conflict with the FIFA World Cup.
	FIBA 3x3 World Championships	Nations	2012	Qatar (2014)	2016	Biennial
	FIBA Intercontinental Cup	Clubs	1966	Olympiacos (2013)	2014	Annual
Beach soccer	FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup	Nations	1995	Russia (2013)	2015	Biennial
Beach volleyball	Swatch FIVB World Championships	Nations	1997	Brouwer–Meeuwsen (2013)	2015	Biennial
Biathlon	Biathlon World Championships	Individuals, nations	1958	Winners in 5 events (2013)	2015	Annual
Billiards (Pool)	WPA World Nine-ball Championship	Individuals	1990	Thorsten Hohmann (2013)	2015	Annual
	WPA World Eight-ball Championship	Individuals	2004	Chang Jung-lin (2012)	2013	Annual
	World three-cushion billiards championship	Individuals	1928	Eddy Merckx (2012)	2013	Annual
	World Billiards Championship (English billiards)	Individuals	1825	Mike Russell (2011)	2012	Annual
	IBSF World Billiards Championship	Individuals	1926	Mike Russell (2011)	2012	Annual
Bobsleigh	FIBT World Championships	Four man	1930	Maximilian Arndt Marko Huebenbecker Alexander Rödiger Martin Putze (2013)	2015	Annual	Not held in Winter Olympic years.
		Two man	1931	Francesco Friedrich Jannis Bäcker (2013)
Boxing	see List of undisputed boxing champions and List of heavyweight boxing champions	Individuals	1882	Winners in several weight classes	At challenge	N/A	Contest occurs at challenge
	World Amateur Boxing Championships	Individuals	1974	Winners in 10 weight classes (2013)	2015	Biennial
Canoeing	ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships	Individuals and teams	1938	Winners in 18 events (2014)	2015	Annual	Not held in Summer Olympic years.
	ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships	Individuals and teams	1949	Winners in 6 categories (2014)	2015	Annual	Not held in Summer Olympic years.
Cricket	ICC Cricket World Cup	Nations	1975	Australia (2015)	2019	Quadrennial
	Indoor Cricket World Cup	Nations	1995	Australia (2014)	2016	Two years
	ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup	Nations	1988	South Africa (2014)	2016	Biennial
	ICC Champions Trophy	Nations	1998	India (2013)	2017	Biennial
	ICC World Twenty20	Nations	2007	Sri Lanka (2014)	2016	Biennial	The World Twenty20 for both sexes changed from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years, effective 2010.
	Champions League Twenty20	Clubs	2009	Chennai Super Kings (2014)	2015	Annual
Cross-Country Skiing	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals	1925	Winners in 6 events (2013)	2015	Biennial
	IPC Biathlon and Cross-Country Skiing World Championships	Individuals	1974	Winners in 19 events (2013)	2015	Biennial
Curling	World Curling Championships	Nations	1959	Sweden (2015)	2016	Annual
Cycling	UCI Road World Championships	Road race	1927	Michał Kwiatkowski (2014)	2015	Annual
		Time trial	1994	Bradley Wiggins (2014)
		Team time trial	1962	BMC Racing Team (2014)[2]			The men's team time trial at the UCI Road World Championships was first held from 1962 to 1994. From 1962 to 1971, the TTT was held annually. After that time, it was held annually except in Olympic years. After the 1994 Worlds, the TTT was removed from the program, and not reinstated until 2012. Note: Since the revival of the World Championships team time trial for men in 2012, and the introduction of the corresponding women's event in the same year, both of these events are now contested by trade teams.
	UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships	Individuals	1950	Zdeněk Štybar (2014)	2015	Annual
	UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships	Individuals	1990	Winners in 5 events (2014)	2015	Annual
	UCI Track Cycling World Championships	Individuals and nations	1893	Winners in 10 events (2014)	2015	Annual
	Enduro World Series	Individuals	2013	Jared Graves (2014)	2015	Annual
Darts	BDO World Darts Championship	Individuals	1978	Stephen Bunting (2014)	2015	Annual
	PDC World Darts Championship	Individuals	1994	Gary Anderson (2015)	2016	Annual
Equestrian see the mixed section below[3]
Fencing	World Fencing Championships	Individual and Team	1923	Winners in 6 events (2014)	2015	Annual	Championships are not held for Olympic events in Summer Olympic years.
Field hockey	Hockey World Cup	Nations	1971	Australia (2014)	2018	Quadrennial
	Indoor Hockey World Cup	Nations	2003	Germany (2011)	2015	Quadrennial
Figure skating	World Figure Skating Championships	Individuals	1896	Yuzuru Hanyu (2014)	2015	Annual
Fistball	Fistball World Cup	Nations	1968	Germany (2011)	2015	Four years
Floorball	World Floorball Championships	Nations	1996	Sweden (2014)	2016	Biennial
Futsal	FIFA Futsal World Cup	Nations	1989	Brazil (2012)	2016	Quadrennial
	AMF Futsal World Cup	Nations	1982	Colombia (2011)	2015	quadrennial	Originally a triennial event, held quadrennially after 2003
	Intercontinental Futsal Cup	Clubs	1996	MFK Dinamo Moskva (2013)	2014	Annual
Gliding see the mixed section below
Golf	Mission Hills World Cup	Nations	1953	United States (2011)	2013	Two years after 2009
Gymnastics	Artistic Gymnastics World Cup	Individuals	1975	14 winners (one for each apparatus)	2015	Every year
	Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup	Individuals and teams	???	8 winners	2015	Every year
	Trampolining World Cup	Individuals	???	??? winners	2015	Every year
Handball (Field handball)	World Men's Handball Championship	Nations	1938	Spain (2013)	2015	Two years
	IHF Super Globe	Clubs	1997	Atlético Madrid (2012)	2013	Annual
Ice hockey	Ice Hockey World Championships	Nations	1920	Russia (2014)	2015	Annual
Inline skating	IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship	Nations	1996	United States (2012)	2011	Annual
	World Inline speed skating Championships	Nations	1937	Colombia (2010)	2010	Annual
International rules football	International Rules Series	Nations	1984	Ireland (2011)	2014	Triennial	Two series are played every three years
Lacrosse	World Lacrosse Championship	Nations	1967	Canada (2014)	2018	Quadrennial
	World Indoor Lacrosse Championship	Nations	2003	Canada (2011)	2015	Quadrennial
Luge	FIL World Luge Championships	Men's singles	1955	Felix Loch (2013)	2015	Annual
		Men's doubles	1955	Tobias Wendl Tobias Arlt (2013)	2015	Annual
	FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships	Men's singles	1979	Gerald Kammerlander (2011)		Biennial
		Men's doubles	1979	Damiano Lugon Andrea Millet (2011)		Biennial
Motorcycling see the mixed section below[4]
Nordic Combined	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	10 km individual normal hill	1925	Eric Frenzel (2013)	2015	Biennial
		10 km individual large hill	1999	Jason Lamy Chappuis (2013)	2015	Biennial
		10 km mass start	2009	Todd Lodwick (2009)	Only held in 2009	N/A	Suspended
		National Team Normal Hill 4 x 5 km	2011	France (2013)	2015	Biennial
		National Team Large Hill 4 x 5 km	1982	France (2013)	2015	Biennial
	FIS Nordic Combined World Cup	Individuals	1983–84	Jason Lamy-Chappuis (2010–11)	2011–12	One year
Orienteering	World Orienteering Championships	Sprint	2001	Mårten Boström (2013)	2014	Annual
		Short distance	1991	Pasi Ikonen (2001)	defunct	Biennial
		Middle distance	2003	Leonid Novikov (2013)	2014	Annual	Originally biennially, annually since 2003
		Long distance	1966	Thierry Gueorgiou (2013)	2014	Annual	Originally biennially, annually since 2003
		Relay	1966	Russia (2013)	2014
Paddle Tennis	Paddle Tennis World Championship	Nations	1992	Spain (2010)	2012	Biennial
Pea shooting	World Pea Shooting Championships	Individuals	1971	Jim Collins (2009)	2010	Annual
Pitch and putt	Pitch and Putt World Cup	Nations	2004	Ireland (2012)	2016	Quadrennial
	World Strokeplay Championship	Individuals	2009	John Walsh (2013)	2017	Quadrennial
Polo	World Polo Championship	Nations	1987	Argentina (2011)	2014	Triennial
Real tennis	Real Tennis World Championship	Individuals[D]	1740	Winners in 3 events (2012)	2014	Biennial
Roller derby	Men's Roller Derby World Cup	Nations	2014	United States	2014	not stated
Roller hockey	Roller Hockey World Cup	Nations	1936	Spain (2013)	2015	Biennial	Current FIRS cups restarted in 1958
Rowing	World Rowing Championships	Nations	1962	Winners in 5 events (2012)	2013	Annual	Championships are not held for Olympic events in Summer Olympic years
	FISA Rowing World Cup	Nations	1997	Winners in 14 events (2012)	2013	Annual
Rugby league	Rugby League World Cup	Nations	1954	Australia (2013)	2017	Quadrennial after 2013
	World Club Challenge	Clubs	1976	South Sydney Rabbitohs (2015)	2015	Annual after 2000
Rugby union	Rugby World Cup	Nations	1987	New Zealand (2011)	2015	Quadrennial
Rugby union sevens	Rugby World Cup Sevens	Nations	1993	New Zealand (2013)	2018	Quadrennial	In June 2013, World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board) announced that it had reconsidered a previous decision to scrap the Rugby World Cup Sevens. After 2013, the next event will be in 2018, and will be held quadrennially afterwards.[5]
Sculling	World Sculling Championship	Individuals	1831	Evans Fischer (1957)	2008	Annual	Annually until 1957; revived in 2008
Shooting	ISSF World Shooting Championships	Individuals and nations	1897	Winners in 18 events (2010)	2014	Quadrennial
	ISSF World Shotgun Championships	Individuals and nations	1934	Winners in 12 events (2009)	2011	Biennial
Skeleton	FIBT World Championships	Individual	1930	Alexander Tretiakov (2013)	2015	Annual	Not held in Winter Olympic years.
Ski jumping	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals normal hill	1962	Anders Bardal (2013)	2015	Biennial
		Individuals large hill	1925	Kamil Stoch (2013)	2015	Biennial
		National Team normal hill	2001	Austria (2011)	2013	Biennial	Not held in 2007 or 2009
		National Team large hill	1962	Austria (2013)	2015	Biennial
	FIS Ski-Flying World Championships	Individuals	1972	Simon Ammann (2010)	2012	Biennial
		National Team	2004	Austria (2010)	2012	Biennial
Ski mountaineering	World Championships of Ski Mountaineering	Nations, individuals, teams, relays, long distances	2002	Italy (2011)	2013	Biennial	Relays held since 2004; Long Distance since 2008.
Snooker	World Snooker Championship	Individuals	1927	Mark Selby (2014)	2015	Annual
	IBSF World Snooker Championship	Individuals	1963	Hossein Vafaei (2011)	2012	Annual
Snowboarding	FIS Snowboard World Championships	Big air	2003	Roope Tonteri (2013)	2015	Biennial
		Slopestyle	2011	Roope Tonteri (2013)
		Halfpipe	1996	Iouri Podladtchikov (2013)
		Snowboard cross	1997	Alex Pullin (2013)
		Parallel slalom	1996	Rok Marguc (2013)
		Parallel giant slalom	1999	Benjamin Karl (2013)
Speed skating	World Allround Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1889	Sven Kramer (2013)	2014	Annual
	World Sprint Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1970	Michel Mulder (2013)	2014	Annual
	World Single Distance Championships	Individuals and Nations	1995	Winners in 6 events (2013)	2014	Annual	In Winter Olympic years, the World Single Distance Championships are not held.
	World Short Track Speed Skating Championships	Individuals[R]	1976	Sin Da-Woon (Overall) Winners in 5 events (2013)	2014	Annual	Although the International Skating Union did not conduct an official World Short Track Championship until 1981, it began organising international events in 1976. All annual ISU-sanctioned international championships from 1976 to 1980 are now retrospectively recognised as World Championships.
	World Short Track Speed Skating Team Championships	Nations	1991	South Korea (2011)	Discontinued after 2011	Annual
	Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship	Individuals	2010	Arttu Pihlainen	2012	Annual
Squash	World Championship	Individuals	1976	Ramy Ashour (2012)	2013	Annual
	World International Doubles Squash Championships	Doubles teams	1997	Stewart Boswell & Anthony Ricketts (2006)	2014
	World Team Squash Championships	Nations	1967	England (2013)	2015	Biennial
Table tennis	World Table Tennis Championships	Individuals[D]	1926	Winners in 3 events (2013)	2015	Biennial
	World Team Table Tennis Championships	Nations	1926	China (2014)	2016	Biennial
Ten-Pin Bowling	WTBA World Championships	Nations	1954	Winners in 6 events (2010)	2014	Quadrennial	Biennially until 2010
Tennis	Davis Cup	Nations	1900	Switzerland (2014)	2015	Annual	Note: The Davis Cup is not formally a world championship, but is traditionally held as equivalent in status. Only the teams in the World Group actually compete for the Davis Cup proper; other teams play to (eventually) reach the World Group.
	ITF World Champion	Individuals	1978	Novak Djokovic (2014)	2015	Annual
	ITF World Champions	Doubles teams	1996	Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan (2014)	2015	Annual
	World Team Cup	Nations	1978	Serbia (2012)	Defunct	Annual
Triathlon	ITU World Triathlon Series	Individuals	1989	Javier Gómez (2014)	2015	Annual
Volleyball	Volleyball World Championship	Nations	1949	Poland (2014)	2014	Quadrennial
	FIVB Volleyball World League	Nations	1990	Russia (2013)	2014	Annual
	FIVB Club World Men's Championship	Clubs	1989	Sada Cruzeiro (2013)	2014	Annual
	Volleyball World Cup	Nations	1965	Russia (2011)	2015	Quadrennial
Wrestling (amateur)	World Wrestling Championships	Individuals and Nations	1904	Winners in 16 events (2014)	2015	Annual	Not held in Summer Olympic years.
	Wrestling World Cup	Nations	1973	Iran (Freestyle (men))  Iran (Greco-Roman))	2015	Annual

Female

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Frequency	Details & notes
Alpine skiing	FIS Alpine World Ski Championships	Individuals	1931	Winners in 5 events (2011)	2013	Biennial
	IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships	Individuals	1972	Winners in 15 events (2011)	2013	Biennial
Archery	World Archery Championships	Individual recurve	1931	Denisse van Lamoen (2011)	2013	Biennial
		Individual compound	1995	Albina Loginova (2011)	2013	Biennial
		Team recurve	1931	Italy (2011)	2013	Biennial
		Team compound	1995	United States (2011)	2013	Biennial
Association football	FIFA Women's World Cup	Nations	1991	Japan (2011)	2015	Quadrennial
Aquatics	FINA World Aquatics Championships	Individuals[R]	1973	Winners in 20 events (2011)	2013	Biennial
	FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)	Individuals[R]	1993	Winners in 20 events (2010)	2012	Biennial
Athletics	IAAF World Championships in Athletics	Individuals[R]	1983	Winners in 24 events (2011)	2013	Biennial	1983–1991 quadrennially, biennially from 1993
	IAAF World Indoor Championships	Individuals[R]	1985	Winners in 13 events (2014)	2016	Biennial
	IAAF World Cross Country Championships	Individuals and teams	1973	Winners in 4 events (2011)	2013	Biennial
	IAAF World Half Marathon Championships	Individuals and teams	1992	Winners in 2 events (2012)	2013	Annual
	IAU 100 km World Championships	Individuals and teams	1987	Amy Sproston (2012)	2013	Annual
	IAU 24 hour World Championships	Individuals and teams	2001	Michaela Dimitriadu (2012)	2013	Annual
	IPC Athletics World Championships	Individuals	1994	Winners in 76 events (2011)	2013	Biennial
Auto racing see the mixed section below[1]
Badminton	BWF World Championships	Individuals[D]	1977	Winners in 2 events (2013)	2014	Annual	Not held in Summer Olympic years
	Uber Cup	Nations	1957	China (2014)	2016	Biennial	Biennially since 1984 it has been held concurrently with the men's Thomas Cup.
Bandy	Bandy World Championship	Nations	2004	Russia (2014)	2016	Biennial	Annually from 2006 to 2008, then biennially
	Bandy World Cup Women	Clubs	2003	Kareby IS (2014)	2015	Annual
Baseball	Women's Baseball World Cup	Nations	2004	Japan (2012)	2014	Biennial
Basketball	FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup	Nations	1953	United States (2014)	2018	Quadrennial
	FIBA 3x3 World Championships	Nations	2012	United States (2012)	2014	Biennial
Beach soccer	FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup	Nations	1995 2005	Russia (2011)	2013	Biennial	1995–2005 as Beach Soccer World Championships; then under FIFA; originally annually, now biennially
Beach volleyball	Swatch FIVB World Championships	Nations	1997	Xue Chen–Zhang Xi (2013)	2015	Biennial
Biathlon	Biathlon World Championships	Individuals, nations	1984	Winners in 5 events (2013)	2015	Annual
Billiards (Pool)	World Cup of Pool	Nations	2006	Finland (2012)	2013	One year
Bobsleigh	FIBT World Championships	Two woman	2000	Kaillie Humphries Chelsea Valois (2013)	2015	Annual	Not held in Winter Olympic years.
Boxing	World Amateur Boxing Championships	Individuals	2001	Winners in 13 weight classes (2006)
	Boxing World Cup	Nations	2005	(Winners in 11 weight classes) (2012)	2014	Two years
Canoeing	ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships	Individuals and teams	1938	Winners in 11 events (2014)	2015	Annual	Not held in Winter Olympic years
	ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships	Individuals and teams	1949	Winners in 4 events (2014)	2015	Annual	Not held in Summer Olympic years
Cricket	Women's Cricket World Cup (one-day international)	Nations	1973	Australia (2013)	2017	Quadrennial
	ICC World Twenty20 (Twenty20 format)	Nations	2009	Australia (2014)	2016	Biennial	Biennially from 2010
Cross-country skiing	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals	1954	Winners in 8 events (2011)	2013	Biennial
	IPC Biathlon and Cross-Country Skiing World Championships	Individuals	1974	??? (2011)	2013	Biennial
Curling	World Curling Championships	Nations	1979	Switzerland (2015)	2016	Annual
Cycling	UCI Road World Championships	Road race	1958	Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (2014)	2015	Annual	The UCI Road World Championships were first contested in 1927, but women's championships were not added until 1958.
		Time trial	1994	Lisa Brennauer (2014)
		Team time trial	2012	Team Specialized–lululemon (2014)[2]
	UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships	Individuals	1990	Winners in 4 events (2014)	2015	Annual
	UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships	Individuals	2000	Marianne Vos (2014)	2015	Annual	The UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships were first contested in 1950, but a women's championship was not added until 2000.
	UCI Track Cycling World Championships	Individuals and nations	1958	Winners in 9 events (2014)	2015	Annual	The UCI Track Cycling World Championships were first contested in 1893, but women's championships were not added until 1958.
	Enduro World Series	Individuals	2013	Tracy Moseley (2014)	2015	Annual
Darts	BDO World Darts Championship	Individuals	2001	Lisa Ashton (2014)	2015	Annual	The BDO World Darts Championship was first contested in 1978, but a women's championship was not added until 2001.
Equestrian see the mixed section below[3]
Fencing	World Fencing Championships	Individual and Team	1923	Winners in 6 events (2014)	2015	Annual	Championships are not held for Olympic events in Summer Olympic years
Field hockey	Women's Hockey World Cup	Nations	1974	Netherlands (2014)	2018	Quadrennial
Figure skating	World Figure Skating Championships	Individuals	1906	Mao Asada (2014)	2015	Annual
Futsal	AMF Futsal Women's World Cup	Nations	2008	Catalonia (2008)	2014	???
Gliding	Women's World Gliding Championships	Individuals	2001	Winners in 3 classes (2007)	2009	Biennial	The duration between World Gliding Championships varies slightly, dependent on the hemisphere of the next planned edition.
Gymnastics	World Artistic Gymnastics Championships	Individuals and nations	1903	Winners in 6 events (2011)	2013	Annual	Not held in years with a Summer Olympics
	World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships	Individuals and nations	1963	Winners in 9 events (2011)	2013	Biennial	Changed from 2005
Handball	World Women's Handball Championship	Nations	1957	Brazil (2013)	2015	Biennial
Ice hockey	IIHF World Women's Championships	Nations	1990	United States (2013)	2015	Annually	Originally, the IIHF Women's World Championship was scheduled every two years. No championship was held in 1996. The following year, a new cycle began, in which championships were held annually except in Winter Olympic years. This cycle will continue to be used in the top level of competition, but a new cycle of championships in the two lower levels will begin in 2014, with annual championships even in Olympic years. While the IIHF will conduct championships for two lower levels of competition in 2014, it will not conduct the top-level championship until 2015, due to the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Indoor hockey	Indoor Hockey World Cup	Nations	2003	Germany (2011)	2015	Quadrennial
Inline speed skating	World Inline speed skating Championships	Nations	1986	Colombia (2013)	2014	Annual
Lacrosse	Women's Lacrosse World Cup	Nations	1982	United States (2013)	2017	Quadrennial
Luge	FIL World Luge Championships	Individual	1955	Natalie Geisenberger (2013)	2015	Annual
	FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships	Individual	1979	Renate Gietl (2011)		Biennial
Motorcycling see the mixed section below[4]
Motorcross	World Motocross Championship for Women	Individuals	2008	Stephanie Laier (2011)	2012	Annual
Netball	World Netball Championships	Nations	1963	Australia (2011)	2015	Quadrennial
Orienteering	World Orienteering Championships	Individuals[R]	1966	Winners in 4 events (2008)	2009	Annual	Biennially up to 2003, then annually
	IOF	Individual and nations	1986	Switzerland (2012)	2013	Annual	Unofficial title cups held in 1983 and 1984 (first official cup in 1986); held biennially until 2004, now annually
Real tennis	Real Tennis World Championship	Individuals[D]	1740	Winners in 2 events (2011)	2013	Biennial
Ringette	World Ringette Championships	Nations	1990	Finland (2013)	2016	Triennial	Biennially 1990-2004
Ringette	Ringette World Club Championship	Clubs	2008	LL-89 (2011)	2014	Triennial
Roller derby	Roller Derby World Cup	Nations	2011	United States 2014	2016	Triennial
Roller hockey	Women's Roller Hockey World Cup	Nations	1992	France (2012)	2014	Biennial
Rugby league	Women's Rugby League World Cup	Nations	2000	New Zealand (2008)	2013	Quadrennial	Quadrennially after 2013
Rugby union	Women's Rugby World Cup	Nations	1991	England (2014)	2017	Quadrennial	After the first event in 1991, a consistent four-year cycle was established in 1994. After the 2014 event, a new four-year cycle was established, with the next Women's World Cup to be held in 2017.
Rugby union sevens (women)	Rugby World Cup Sevens	Nations	2009	New Zealand (2013)	2018	Quadrennial	The Rugby World Cup Sevens was first contested in 1993, but a women's tournament was not added until 2009[5]
Sailing	ISAF Class World Championships	Individuals Boats	1907 Onward		Ongoing	Varies	A number of classes host women on World titles
	ISAF Women's Match World Championship	Individuals Boats	1999		Ongoing	Annual
Shooting	ISSF World Shooting Championships	Individuals and nations	1958	Winners in 23 events (2010)	2014	Quadrennial
	World Shotgun Championships	Individuals and nations	1967	Winners in 4 events (2011)	2013	Biennial
Skeleton	FIBT World Championships	Individual	2000	Shelley Rudman (2013)	2015	Annual	Not held in years with Winter Olympics.
Ski jumping	FIS Nordic World Ski Championships	Individuals normal hill	2009	Daniela Iraschko (2011)	2013	Biennial
Ski mountaineering	World Championships of Ski Mountaineering	Nations, individuals, teams, relays, long distances	2002	Winners in 6 events (2011)	2013	Biennial	Relays added (2004); Long Distance added (2008)
Snowboarding	FIS Snowboard World Championships	Individuals halfpipe	1996	Arielle Gold (2013)	2015	Biennial
		Individuals slopestyle	2011	Spencer O'Brien (2013)
		Individuals snowboard cross	1997	Maelle Ricker (2013)
		Individuals parallel slalom	1996	Ekaterina Tudegesheva (2013)
		Individuals parallel giant slalom	1999	Isabella Laböck (2013)
Softball	Women's Softball World Championship	Nations	1965	Japan (2014)	2016	Biennial	Quadrennially from 1970–2010, now biennially
	World Cup of Softball	Nations	2005	United States (2014)	2015	Annual
Speed skating	World All-Round Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1933	Ireen Wüst (2013)	2014	Annual
	World Sprint Speed Skating Championships	Individuals	1970	Heather Richardson (2013)	2014	Annual
	World Single Distance Championships	Individuals and nations	1995	Winners in 6 events (2013)	2014	Annual	In Winter Olympic years, the World Single Distance Championships are not held.
	World Short Track Speed Skating Championships	Individuals[R]	1976	Wang Meng (Overall) Winners in 5 events (2013)	2014	Annual	Note: Although the International Skating Union did not conduct an official World Short Track Championship until 1981, it began organising international events in 1976. All annual ISU-sanctioned international championships from 1976 to 1980 are now retrospectively recognised as World Championships.
	World Short Track Speed Skating Team Championships	Nations	1991	South Korea (2011)	Discontinued after 2011	Annual
	ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup	Individuals and Nations	1999/2000	Winners in 6 events (2009/10)	2010/11	One year
Squash	World Open	Individuals	1979	Nicol David (2012)	2013	Annual
	World Doubles Squash Championships	Doubles teams	1997	Shelley Kitchen & Tamsyn Leevey (2006)	2014	Intermittent
	World Team Squash Championships	Nations	1979	Egypt (2012)	2014	Biennial
Table tennis	World Table Tennis Championships	Individuals[D]	1926	Winners in 3 events (2013)	2015	Biennial
	World Team Table Tennis Championships	Nations	1933	China (2014)	2016	Biennial
Ten-pin bowling	WTBA World Championships	Nations	1963	Winners in 6 events (2011)	2013	Biennial
Tennis	Fed Cup	Nations	1963	Czech Republic (2014)	2015	Annual	Note: The Fed Cup is not formally a world championship, but is traditionally held as equivalent in status. It was called Federation Cup until 1995.
	ITF World Champion	Individuals	1978	Serena Williams (2014)	2015	Annual
	ITF World Champions	Doubles teams	1996	Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci (2014)	2015	Annual
Triathlon	ITU World Triathlon Series	Individuals	1989	Gwen Jorgensen (2014)	2015	Annual
Volleyball	Women's World Championship	Nations	1952	Russia (2010)	2014	Quadrennial
	FIVB World Cup	Nations	1973	Italy (2011)	2015	Quadrennial
	FIVB World Grand Prix	Nations	1993	Brazil (2013)	2014	Annual
	FIVB Club World Women's Championship	Clubs	1991	Vakıfbank Istanbul (2013)	2014	Annual
Water polo	FINA Water Polo World Cup	Nations	1979	United States (2010)	2014	Quadrennial	Originally biennially, quadrennially after 2002
	FINA Water Polo World Championship	Nations	1986	Spain (2013)	2015	Biennial	Biennially since 2001
Wrestling (amateur)	World Wrestling Championships	Individuals	1987	Winners in 8 events (2014)	2015	Annual
	Wrestling World Cup	Nations	2001	Japan (2014)	2015	Annual

Open

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Frequency	Details and notes
3-Cushion (Billiards)	Three-Cushion World Cup	Individuals	1986	Frédéric Caudron	2015	Annual
Air racing	Red Bull Air Race World Championship	Individuals	2003	Nigel Lamb	2015	Annual	Not held in 2010–2013
Alpine skiing	FIS Alpine Ski World Cup	Individuals	1967	Marcel Hirscher (men) Tina Maze (women) (2012–13)	2013–14	One year
		Nations		Austria (men and women) (2012–13)
Auto racing	Formula One World Championship	Individuals	1950	Lewis Hamilton (2014)	2015	Annual
		Constructors	1958	Mercedes (2014)
	FIA World Endurance Championship	Individuals	2012	Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi (2014)	2015	Annual
		Manufacturers		Toyota (2014)
	FIA GT1 World Championship	Individuals	2010	Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock (2012)	Defunct	Annual	Annually until 2012
		Teams		Münnich Motorsport (2012)
	FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup	Individuals	1993	Leonid Novitskiy and Andreas Schulz (2011)	2012	Annual
		Teams		BMW (2011)
	World Rally Championship	Individuals	1977	Sébastien Ogier (2014)	2015	Annual
		Manufacturers	1973	Volkswagen (2014)
	World Touring Car Championship	Individuals	1987	José María López (2014)	2015	Annual
		Manufacturers		Citroën (2014)
	World Manufacturers' Championship	Manufacturers	1925	Delage (1927)	Defunct	Annual	Annually until 1927
	World Sportscar Championship	Manufacturers; from 1985 teams	1953	Peugeot Talbot Sport (1992)	Defunct	Annual	Annually until 1992
		Individuals	1981	Yannick Dalmas Derek Warwick (1992)		Annual
	Karting World Championship	Individuals	1964	Lando Norris (2014)	2015	Annual
Biathlon	Biathlon World Cup	Individuals	1977–78	Tarjei Bø (men) Kaisa Mäkäräinen (women) (2010–11)	2011–12	One year
		Nations	1996–97	Norway (men)  Germany (women) (2010–11)
Bobsleigh	Bobsleigh World Cup	Teams	1984-85	Three teams (2009-10)	2010-11	One year
Cross-Country Skiing	FIS Cross-Country World Cup	Individuals	1973–74	Dario Cologna (men) Justyna Kowalczyk (women) (2010–11)	2011–12	One year
Equestrian	Dressage World Cup	Individuals	1986	Adelinde Cornelissen (2012)	2013	Annual
	Four-in-hand Driving World Cup	Individuals	????	????	????	One year
	Eventing World Cup (:de)	Individuals	2003	Michael Jung (2010)	Suspended	Annual	No final since 2010; final ranking leader is World Cup Champion
	FEI World Equestrian Games	Individuals	1990	Winners in 27 events (2010)	2014	Quadrennial
	Mounted Games World Individual Championships	Individuals	1986	Widukind Moormann	2014	Annual
	Mounted Games World Pairs Championships	Pairs	1992	Joe Garnett & Chloe Golding	2014	Annual
	Mounted Games World Team Championships	Team	1986	New Zealand	2014	Annual
	Show Jumping World Cup	Individuals	1979	Rich Fellers (2012)	2013	One year
Glider (aircraft) aerobatics	FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championships	Individuals	1985	Maciej Pospieszyński (2012/13)	2011	Biennial
		Nations		France (2009)
Gliding	World Gliding Championships	Individuals	1937	Winners in 6 classes (2008)	2010	Biennial	The duration between World Gliding Championships varies slightly, dependent on the hemisphere of the next planned edition.
Ice hockey	Ice Hockey World Championships	Nations	1930	Sweden (2013)	2014	One year
Korfball	Korfball World Championship	Nations	1978	Netherlands (2007)	2011	Quadrennial
Luge	Luge World Cup	Individual	1977-78	Three champions (2009-10)	2010-11	One year
Motorcycling	FIM MotoGP Championship	Individuals	1949	Winners in three classes (2014)	2015	Annual
		Constructors		Winners in three classes (2014)
	Supercross World Championship	Individuals	2003	Ryan Villopoto	2015	Annual
	Motocross World Championship	Individuals	2003	Winners in two classes (2014)	2015	Annual
	FIM World Enduro Championship	Individuals	1990	Winners in 3 events (2014)	2015	Annual
	FIM sidecarcross World Championship	Pairs	1980	Daniël Willemsen (2012) Kenny van Gaalen	2013	Annual
	Speedway World Team Cup (1960–2000) Speedway World Cup (since 2001)	National Team	1960	Denmark (2014)	2015	Annual
	Speedway World Pairs Championship	National pair	1970	Sweden (1993)	Defunct	Annual	Annually until 1993
	Individual Speedway World Championship (1931–1994) Speedway Grand Prix (since 1995)	Individuals	1931	Greg Hancock (2014)	2015	Annual
	Individual Ice Racing World Championship	Individuals[6]	1966	Daniil Ivanov (2013)	2014	Annual
	Team Ice Racing World Championship	Nations	1979	Russia (2013)	2014	Annual
	Sidecar World Championship	Pairs	1949	Tim Reeves (driver) & Gregory Cluze (passenger) (2014)	2015	Annual
	Endurance FIM World Championship	Team	1975	Yamaha Racing GMT 94 Michelin	2015	Annual
	Superbike World Championship	Individuals	1988	Tom Sykes (2013)	2014	Annual
		Manufacturers		Aprilia (2013)
	Supersport World Championship	Individuals	1999	Michael van der Mark (2014)	2015	Annual
		Manufacturers		Honda (2014)
	FIM Superstock 1000 Championship	Individuals	2000	Leandro Mercado (2014)	2015	Annual
		Manufacturers		Kawasaki (2014)
Padel	Padel Tennis World Championship	Nations	1992	Argentina (2012)	2014	Biennial
Pétanque	Pétanque World Championships	Nations	1959	France (2012)	2014 in Dakar	Biennial
Pitch and putt	Pitch and Putt World Cup	Nations	2012	Ireland (2012)	2014	Biennial
Motorboat racing	Class 1 World Powerboat Championship	Individual Boats	1992	Victory 3 (2014)	2015	Annual
	UIM Powerboat GPS World Championship	Individual boats	2003	Winners in 3 classes	Defunct	Annual	Annually until 2011, known as Powerboat P1 World Championship upto 2009
	F1 Powerboat World Championship	Individual	1981	Alex Carella (2014)	2015	Annual
Radio-controlled car racing	IFMAR World Championship	1:8 IC Track	1977	Tadahiko Sahashi (2013)	2015	Biennial
		1:10 Electric Off-Road 2WD	1985	Jared Tebo (2013)	2015		Double header single host event
		1:10 Electric Off-Road 4WD		Steven Hartson (2013)	2015
		1:5 Touring Car	2001	Markus Feldmann (2013)	2015
		1:8 Off-Road	1986	Ty Tessman (2014)	2016
		1:12 Electric Track	1982	Marc Rheinard (2014)	2016		Double header single host event since 2002, triple in 2000 with PRO 10
		1:10 Electric ISTC	2000	Naoto Matsukura (2014)	2016
		1:10 IC 200mm Nitro Touring Car	2002	Alexander Hagberg (2014)	2016
		1:10 PRO 10	1992	Masami Hirosaka (2000)	Defunct		Biennial until 2000, single host event with 1:12 on-road in 1996-2000
		1:10 235mm Touring Car	1998	Brian Berry (2002)	Defunct		Biennial until 2002
Sailing	ISAF Sailing World Championships	Individuals Boats	2003	Winners in up to 9 classes	2014	Quadrennial
	ISAF Sailing World Cup	Individuals	2008	Winners in 10 Olympic disciplines	Ongoing	Annual
	ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships	Individuals Boats	1971	winners in about 10 categories	2013	Annual
	Team Racing World Championships	Individuals Boats	1995		2013	Annual
	Offshore Team Racing World Championships	Individuals Boats	2004		2013	Annual
	ISAF Open Match Racing World Championship	Individuals Boats	1998		2013	Annual
	ISAF Open Match Racing World Championship	National Teams of 2/3 boats	1998		2013	Biennial
	Star World Championships	Team of two persons	1923	United States George Szabo Rick Peters	2013	Annual
	Windsurfing World Championships	Individual	1980	Julien Bontemps	2013	Annual
Shooting	ISSF World Cup	Individuals	1988	Winners in 15 events (2012)	2013	One year
Skeleton	Skeleton World Cup	Individuals	1986-87 (men), 1996-97 (women)	Two champions (2009-10)	2010-11	One year
Ski Jumping	FIS Ski Jumping World Cup	Individuals	1979–80	Kamil Stoch (2013–14)	2014–15	One year
		National Team	?	Austria (2010–11)	2011–12	One year
Ski orienteering	World Cup in Ski Orienteering	Individual and nations	???	???	???	???
Slot car racing	ISRA World Championship	Individual	1992	Winners in 4 classes	2011	Annual
Speed skating	Speed Skating World Cup	Individuals and Nations	1985–86	Winners in 12 events (2009–10)	2010–11	One year
Tennis	ITF World Mixed Team Championships	Nations	1989	France (2014)	2015	One year
Tug of war	TWIF Indoor World Championships	Nations	1976	Winners in various weight classes	2014	Biennial
	TWIF Outdoor World Championships	Nations	1976	Winners in various weight classes	2012	Biennial

Mixed-Sex Teams

Sport	Competition name	Competing entities	First held	Current holder	Next	Frequency	Details and notes
Archery	World Archery Championships	Team recurve male – female pair	1931	South Korea (2011)	2013	Biennial
		Team compound male – female pair	1995	Italy (2011)	2013	Biennial
Badminton	BWF World Championships	Male – female pair	1977	Winners in 1 event (2013)	2014	Annual	Not held in Summer Olympic years.
	Sudirman Cup	Nations	1989	China (2013)	2015	Biennial
Basketball	FIBA 3x3 World Championships	National teams of two men and two women	2012	France	2014	Biennial	Three players are on the court at any one time
Biathlon	Biathlon World Championships	Nations	2005	Norway (2013)	2015	Annual
Bull riding	PBR World Cup	Nations	2007	Brazil (2010)	???	One year
Curling	World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship	National mixed teams male – female pair	2008	Hungary (2013)	2014	Annual
Figure skating	World Figure Skating Championships	National pairs male – female pair from the same nation	1908	Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy (2014)	2015	Annual
		Ice Dance male – female pair from the same nation	1952	Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte (2014)
Luge	FIL World Luge Championships	Nations	1989	Natalie Geisenberger Felix Loch Tobias Wendl /Tobias Arlt(2013)	2014	Annual
	FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships	Nations	2001	Anton Blasbichler Renate Gietl Patrick Pigneter Florian Clara (2011)		Biennial
Sailing	IFDS SKUD 18 World Championship	Pair – female and either male or another female	2007		Ongoing	Annual
	Mixed Nacra 17 World Championship	Male – female pair	2013		Ongoing	Annual
Synchronized skating	World Synchronized Skating Championships	Teams	2000	Team Unique (2013)	2014	Annual
Ten-Pin Bowling	QubicaAMF World Cup	Individuals	1965	Derek Eoff (men) Jasmine Young-Nathan (women) (2008)	2009	One year
Tennis	Hopman Cup	National teams male – female pair	1989	France (2014)	2015	Annual	Competitions are played in traditional order: women's singles, men's singles, and mixed doubles
	Mixed Doubles World Championship						Male & Female Pair
Touch football (rugby league)	Touch Football World Cup	Nations	1988	Australia (both men and women) (2011)	2015	Four years
Triathlon	ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships	National teams of two men and two women	2003	(2014)	2015	One year

Paralympics and other class

Notes

References

    R.  ^R - One or more relay events, in which three or four competitors compete for their nation, are included for each sex.
    D.  ^D - Does not includes three Doubles events, one for men, one for women, and one for mixed doubles.