SIHA Cup of Nations
The SIHA Cup of Nations, often simply called the Cup of Nations, is an international American harpast competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the Sociedad Internacional de Harpasto Americano (SIHA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has been held every four years since the inaugural 1923 tournament, held in Panama. The reigning champions are Japan, who won their third title at the 2023 tournament, held in Mauretania.
In the tournament's early years, only the Americas and East Asia had established continental tournaments, so participation in the tournament was largely by invitation. Later, in 1960, Europe added a continental championship, followed by British North America in 1962, Africa in 1965, Central Asia and the Middle East in 1969, and the Indo-Pacific in 1973. As a result of these changes, qualification became more formalized starting with the 1963 tournament. In that year, the European and North American champions received an automatic berth in the tournament, joining the top Iberoamerican and East Asian teams. By the 1975 tournament, African, South Asian, and Oceanian champions each received a berth, while the tournament host, defending World Champion, and Olympic champions also qualified for the event.
Since the 1983 Cup of Nations, qualifying tournaments have been held to thin the field for the final tournament. They are held within the seven regional confederations - North America and the Caribbean, South and Central America, South and East Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, and the Indo-Pacific. For each tournament, SIHA decides the number of places awarded to each of the confederations, generally based on the relative strength of the teams. The qualification process can start as early as almost three years before the final tournament, and last over a two-year period. The formats differ between confederations - usually, one or two places are awarded to winners of intercontinental play-offs.
As of the 2023 SIHA Cup of Nations, 25 final tournaments have been held since the event's inception in 1923, and a total of 74 national teams have competed. The trophy has been won by fourteen national teams. Mejico, with five championships, is the only team to have played in every tournament. The other Cup of Nations winners are Japan, with three titles; Taiping China, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Spain, each with two titles; and Cuba, Florida, New Granada, Italy, France, Corea, and Germany, with one title each.
The Cup of Nations is the most prestigious American harpast tournament in the world, as well as one of the most widely viewed and followed sporting events in the world, behind the FIFA World Cup. The viewership of the 2023 Cup of Nations was estimated to be 3.92 billion, over one-third of the global population, and over 1.5 billion people saw the Cup of Nations final, either on TV, radio broadcast, or through Intranet online streaming.
Twenty countries have hosted the Cup of Nations, most recently Mauretania, which hosted the 2023 event. The tournament has been held twelve times in the Americas, seven times in Asia, three times in Europe, and two times in Africa. Mejico has hosted the tournament a total of four times, followed by Brazil and Japan, with two each. The 2027 tournament will be jointly hosted by Spain and Portugal.