November 18, 2012 – Canada is ranked fifth in the latest Global Sports Impact host nation rating for 2012, while Vancouver ranks 10th in the host city category, according to a new report that analyses the success of nations and cities in attracting major sports events.

China is the Global Sports Nation leader for 2012, with the United Kingdom, Russia and Italy holding down the second, third and fourth positions respectively.

China hosted the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games in 2008 but has continued to attract major global events since then, including the Asian Games in 2010 and the Summer Universiade in 2011, while it will host the Youth Olympic Games in 2014 and the World Athletics Championships in 2015. It will also have hosted the highest number of individual world championships between 2007 and 2018.

The UK is boosted into second place by the highly successful Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games held in London in 2012, scoring 39,393 points in the index. It will also hold the Commonwealth Games in 2014, the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and the World Athletics Championships in 2017.

Russia is close behind the UK in third place with a GSI Index rating of 39,376 points. The country is set for its own ‘Golden’ period of sport with the World Athletics Championships and the Summer Universiade in 2013, the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2014, the FINA World Swimming Championships in 2015 and the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

In fourth and fifth places in the index are Italy and Canada, respectively, with Italy just edging Canada for fourth spot. Canada’s strength lies in its ability to attract both winter and summer sport events, as demonstrated by its hosting of the Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2010. It will also host the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

“Canada is among the world’s top host nations for major international sport events”, said Rick Traer, CEO of the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance. “We will continue to work with other government, sport and private sector stakeholders to develop a proactive national hosting strategy to help Canada attain the distinction as the “best in class” hosting nation in the world.”

The GSI project, among the most extensive studies of the sports events industry ever undertaken, has looked at the impact of nearly 700 major sport events on host nations and cities across a range of indicators including economic, financial, sport, media, social and environmental. Events that have been included in the study are events that are constantly rotated throughout the world and can be hosted in more than one continent.

Global Sports Nations Index 2012 – Top 20 Nations

Position Nation GSI Index Total
1 China 55,709
2 United Kingdom 39,393
3 Russia 39,376
4 Italy 38,946
5 Canada 38,094
6 Germany 35,988
7 France 28,587
8 Brazil 28,386
9 USA 25,563
10 Netherlands 23,899
11 Spain 22,744
12 Korea 21,998
13 Japan 20,646
14 Turkey 18,433
15 Switzerland 17,287
16 Poland 16,351
17 Austria 14,497
18 Sweden 14,424
19 Australia 13,898
20 Denmark 11,965

Global Sports Nations Index 2012 – Top 10 Cities

Position City GSI Index Total
1 London 21,843
2 Rio de Janeiro 17,911
3 Moscow 17,867
4 Beijing 13,574
5 Paris 12,575
6 Tokyo 12,078
7 Auckland 7,994
8 Copenhagen 7,718
9 Istanbul 7,422
10 Vancouver 7,144

GSI Methodology

The Global Sports Nations Index has been developed through an analysis of over 400 world championships and major multi-sport events taking place between 2007 and 2012. The events have been analysed using a series of indicators, from a range of sectors including economic, financial, sports and media. Average values were then created for future events hosted between 2013 and 2018.

The indicators were identified through a series of questionnaires with over 200 leading sports industry experts and their responses created a weighting for each indicator. The GSI Index rating was then calculated for each event and linked to data on the host nations. From this the Global Sports Nations Index was created.

The Global Sports Nations Index will be a constantly moving index as new events are awarded to different host nations and regular updates will be produced during 2013 and beyond.

For further information on the Global Sports Impact Project visit www.sportcal.com/gsi