The World Teams Championships has commenced with 111 men’s teams and 83 women’s teams. A total of 194 teams each with 4 players. So just under 800 of the worlds finest players assembled in the one competition. It makes you start to appreciate how big our game really is. So with all those teams and players how do you start to find a winner?

The format of the competition is this. The countries are placed into divisions of 24 teams. Which division your country is put into is dependent on its finishing place in the previous World Teams championships and also the individual world rankings of their top 3 players. The top 24 countries in the world form the Championships division. The winner of which is declared the World Champion. At the end of the competition each country will be given a final placing. In the Championship division the highest you can finish is 1st and the lowest you can finish is 24th. In division 2 the highest you can finish is 25th and the lowest is 48th.

Each division is divided into 4 groups. The 24 teams in that division are distributed evenly into the groups depending again on the rankings. There are 6 teams in each group. All the teams in the group play each other in a round robin format. After the round robin is completed, the top 3 teams from each of the 4 groups play off in a progressive knockout competition and the bottom 3 teams of each group do the same. So in the case of the Championships division the top 3 teams in the group will go into a playoff for positions 1 to 12. The bottom 3 in the group will go into a playoff for positions 13 to 24. It may sound like a complicated system but in effect it is a simple way of deciding each teams finishing position. The only drawback of the system is that each team doe not have the potential to win the World Championships but in effect it would be near impossible for someone outside the top 24 to win the event anyway. The other drawback is that the bottom of the higher division doesn’t get challenged by the to of the lower division. However as a matter of practicality, it would be difficult to keep the competition going any longer to allow for these matches to take place.

This is the draw for each division.

Group A
1 CHINA
2 RUSSIA
3 GREECE
4 FRANCE
5 POLAND
6 ITALY

Group B
1 KOREA REPUBLIC
2 SWEDEN
3 CHINESE TAIPEI
4 CZECH REPUBLIC
5 ROMANIA
6 UKRAINE
Group C
1 GERMANY
2 JAPAN
3 CROATIA.
4 DENMARK
5 SPAIN
6 HUNGARY

Group D
1 HONG KONG
2 AUSTRIA
3 PORTUGAL
4 SINGAPORE
5 KOREA DPR
6 BELARUS

Group E
1 SLOVAK REPUBLIC
2 ENGLAND
3 SLOVENIA
4 THAILAND
5 IRAN
6 LUXEMBOURG

Group F
1 SERBIA
2 NIGERIA
3 TURKEY
4 NETHERLANDS
5 USA
6 SCOTLAND

Group G
1 BRAZIL
2 EGYPT
3 NORWAY
4 VIETNAM
5 BULGARIA
6 LATVIA

Group H
1 BELGIUM
2 INDIA
3 CANADA
4 ARGENTINA
5 ISRAEL
6 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Third Division – Men’s Teams
Group I
1 INDONESIA
2 ALGERIA
3 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
4 IRELAND
5 ECUADOR
6 MOLDOVA

Group J
1 AUSTRALIA
2 VENEZUELA
3 SAUDI ARABIA
4 SRI LANKA
5 SOUTH AFRICA
6 LITHUANIA

Group K
1 CONGO BRAZZAVILLE
2 MEXICO
3 SWITZERLAND
4 COLOMBIA
5 MALAYSIA
6 UZBEKISTAN

Group L
1 ESTONIA
2 FINLAND
3 PHILIPPINES
4 CYPRUS
5 QATAR
6 IRAQ

Fourth Division – Men’s Teams
Group M
1 SAN MARINO
2 BARBADOS
3 AZERBAIJAN
4 JORDAN
5 KYRGYZSTAN
6 Bye

Group N
1 LEBANON
2 MACEDONIA
3 ANGOLA
4 ICELAND
5 MADAGASCAR
6 Bye

Group O
1 YEMEN
2 SUDAN
3 EL SALVADOR
4 JERSEY
5 TOGO
6 Bye

Group P
1 NEW ZEALAND
2 TURKMENISTAN
3 COSTA RICA
4 SYRIA
5 ALBANIA
6 Bye

Group Q
1 MALTA
2 MONGOLIA
3 PARAGUAY
4 LAOS
5 SIERRA LEONE
6 Bye

Group R
1 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
2 JAMAICA
3 MONTENEGRO
4 NICARAGUA
5 TAJIKISTAN
6 Bye

Group S
1 ARMENIA
2 MALAWI
3 PAKISTAN
4 GUERNSEY C.I.
5 BAHRAIN
6 Bye

Group T
1 KAZAKHSTAN
2 KOSOVO
3 MACAO
4 CONGO DEMOCRATIC
5 Bye
6 Bye

Don’t forget to get your entry in for the World Teams Championships Winner competition. If you pick the top 4 Men’s and Women’s teams you can win a PingSkills Super Pack.