World Military Cup

The World Military Cup is an international association football competition contested by national military teams. Organized by the International Military Sports Council (CISM), the tournament was first held in 1946 under the title World Military Championship. The name was changed to the World Military Cup ahead of the 2001 edition.

World Military Cup

Founded	1946
Region	International (CISM)
Current champions	M:  Bahrain (2019) W:  South Korea (2023)
Most successful team(s)	Men:  Italy (8 titles) Women:  Brazil (5 titles)
2019 Military World Games

In 1995, the Military World Games—a multi-sport event for military personnel—was established, and the football championship became an integrated discipline within the Games. Despite this integration, the football tournament continues to be organized as a standalone biennial event under CISM governance.

A counterpart competition for women, the World Military Women's Championship, was established in 2001. Both tournaments remain key fixtures in CISM's sporting calendar, promoting camaraderie and sportsmanship among armed forces globally.

History

The inaugural World Military Championship was hosted in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) in 1946, organized by the Armed Forces Sports Council (AFSC). In 1948, the AFSC was restructured and renamed the International Military Sports Council (CISM), which has governed the competition since. Great Britain won the first title, defeating host nation Czechoslovakia in the final, where the latter finished as runners-up.^[1]

Format

Since 2013, the World Military Cup has been restructured into two distinct competitions. The CISM World Football Cup, held on a four-year cycle, debuted in its current format in 2013. Its second edition took place from 23 to 28 January 2017 in Muscat, Oman.

Separately, the Military World Games—a multi-sport event organized by the International Military Sports Council (CISM)—features a football tournament branded as the Military World Championship. This competition also follows a four-year cycle, running concurrently with the Games.^[1]

Qualifications

Teams qualify for the World Military Cup through continental tournaments organized by each confederation under CISM governance. The qualifying competitions are as follows:

Confederation	Championship
Asia	Asian Military Qualifying Tournament
Africa	African Military Cup
Americas	Americas Military Cup
Europe	European Military Qualifying Tournament

These tournaments determine the regional representatives for the final World Military Cup event.

Results

Men

Military World Championship

A football tournament has been held as part of the Military World Games every four years since 1995. This competition is recognized as part of the World Military Championship.

Year	Host		Final				Third Place Match
			Champions	Score	Runners-Up		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
1946 Details	Prague		United Kingdom		Czechoslovakia		Belgium
1947 Details	Hanover		Belgium		Netherlands		Denmark
1948 Details	Copenhagen		France		Belgium		Denmark		Luxembourg
1949 Details	Lille / Paris		France	3–1	Turkey		Belgium	3–1	Netherlands
1950 Details	The Hague		Italy	2–1	Belgium		France	4–4 (France win on corners)	Netherlands
1951 Details	Cairo		Italy	3–1	Egypt		France	3–1	Belgium
1952 Details	Athens		Greece	3–2	Belgium		Netherlands	1–0	Turkey
1953 Details	Ankara / Istanbul 1		Belgium	n/a	Turkey		Greece
1954 Details	Brussels		Belgium	5–1	Turkey		Portugal	1–0	France
1955 Details	Rome		Turkey	n/a	Italy		Egypt	n/a	Netherlands
1956 Details	Lisbon		Italy	n/a	Portugal		Egypt	n/a	Turkey
1957 Details	Buenos Aires		France	n/a	Argentina		Italy	n/a	Brazil
1958 Details	Lisbon		Portugal	2–1	France		Netherlands	4–3	Belgium
1959 Details	Florence 1		Italy	n/a	Portugal		France
1960 Details	Oran 2		Belgium	n/a	Turkey		Greece	n/a	France
1961 Details	Ankara		Turkey	n/a	Greece		France	n/a	Netherlands
1962 Details	Seoul		Greece	1st leg: 3–1 2nd leg: 1–2	South Korea		Turkey
1963 Details	Athens / Saloniki		Greece	n/a	Belgium		France and  Turkey
1964 Details	Ankara / Istanbul		France	n/a	Turkey		West Germany and  Netherlands
1965 Details	Gijón		Spain	3–0	Turkey		Morocco	2–1	Belgium
1966 Details	Rabat		Turkey	1st leg: 2–1 2nd leg: 0–0	Morocco		Netherlands and  Spain
1967 Details	Brussels		Turkey	n/a	Belgium		Morocco and  Netherlands
1968 Details	Baghdad		Greece	4–1	Turkey		Netherlands and  Spain
1969 Details	Athens		Greece	w/o	Algeria		Iran	1–1	South Korea
1972 Details	Baghdad		Iraq	n/a	Italy		Greece	n/a	Turkey
1973 Details	Brazzaville		Italy	n/a	Iraq		Kuwait	n/a	Congo
1975 Details	Hagen		West Germany	1–0	Netherlands		Kuwait	6–5 (a.e.t.)	Cameroon
1977 Details	Damascus		Iraq	0–0 (5–4 p)	Kuwait		Italy	3–1 (a.e.t.)	France
1979 Details	Kuwait City		Iraq	0–0 (4–3 p)	Italy		Kuwait	3–1	Austria
1981 Details	Doha		Kuwait	1–0	Qatar		Syria	2–0	France
1983 Details	Kuwait City		Kuwait	2–0	Belgium
1987 Details	Arezzo		Italy	2–0	West Germany		Egypt	4–1	Belgium
1989 Details	Caserta		Italy	3–0	Morocco		Belgium	1–0	United Arab Emirates
1991 Details	Arnhem / Apeldoorn		Italy	3–3 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Germany		Turkey	1–0	France
1993 Details	Rabat		Egypt	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Morocco		Germany	3–0	France
1995 Details	Rome *		France	1–0	Iran		South Korea	1–0	Cyprus
1997 Details	Tehran		Greece	1–0	Italy		France	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Burkina Faso
1999 Details	Zagreb *		Egypt	3–3 (5–4 p)	Greece		Croatia	2–0	Germany
2001 Details	Cairo		Egypt	3–0	Greece		North Korea	5–0	Guinea
2003 Details	Catania *		North Korea	3–2	Egypt		Italy	3–2	Lithuania
2005 Details	Warendorf		Egypt	1–0	Algeria		Qatar	3–1	Germany
2007 Details	Hyderabad *		Egypt	2–0	Cameroon		North Korea	2–0	Qatar
2011 Details	Rio de Janeiro * [2]		Algeria	1–0	Egypt		Brazil	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Qatar
2015 Details	Mungyeong *		Algeria	2–0 (a.e.t.)	Oman		South Korea	3–2	Egypt
2019 Details	Wuhan *		Bahrain	3–1	Qatar		Algeria	4–0	North Korea

• ^n/a Round-robin tournament determined final standings.
• ^n1 Only three teams in the final group.
• ^n2 Tournament held in French Algeria.
• * Event integrated into the Military World Games.

CISM World Football Cup

Year	Host		Final				Third Place Match
			Champions	Score	Runners-Up		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2013 Details	Baku		Iraq	3–2	Oman		Ivory Coast	1–0	Azerbaijan
2017 Details	Muscat		Oman	0–0 (4–1 p)	Qatar		Syria	2 – 2 (6–5 p)	Egypt

Teams reaching the top four

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Total
Italy	8 (1950, 1951, 1956, 1959, 1973, 1987, 1989, 1991)	4 (1955, 1972, 1979, 1997)	3 (1957, 1977, 2003)	—	15
Greece	6 (1952, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1997)	3 (1961, 1999, 2001)	3 (1953, 1960, 1972)	—	12
Egypt	5 (1993, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007)	3 (1951, 2003, 2011)	3 (1955, 1956, 1987)	2 (2015, 2017)	13
France	5 (1948, 1949, 1957, 1964, 1995)	1 (1958)	6 (1950, 1951, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1997)	6 (1954, 1960, 1977, 1981, 1991, 1993)	18
Turkey	4 (1955, 1961, 1966, 1967)	7 (1949, 1953, 1954, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1968)	2 (1962, 1991)	4 (1952, 1956, 1963, 1972)	17
Belgium	4 (1947, 1953, 1954, 1960)	6 (1948, 1950, 1952, 1963, 1967, 1983)	3 (1946, 1949, 1989)	4 (1951, 1958, 1965, 1987)	14
Iraq	4 (1972, 1977, 1979, 2013)	1 (1973)	—	—	5
Algeria	2 (2011, 2015)	2 (1969, 2005)	1 (2019)	—	5
Kuwait	2 (1981, 1983)	1 (1977)	3 (1973, 1975, 1979)	—	6
Germany	1 (1975)	2 (1987, 1991)	2 (1964, 1993)	2 (1999, 2005)	7
Portugal	1 (1958)	2 (1956, 1959)	1 (1954)	—	4
Oman	1 (2017)	2 (2013, 2015)	—	—	3
North Korea	1 (2003)	—	2 (2001, 2007)	1 (2019)	4
Spain	1 (1965)	—	—	2 (1966, 1968)	3
Bahrain	1 (2019)	—	—	—	1
England	1 (1946)	—	—	—	1
Morocco	—	3 (1966, 1989, 1993)	2 (1965, 1967)	—	5
Qatar	—	3 (1981, 2017, 2019)	1 (2005)	2 (2007, 2011)	6
Netherlands	—	2 (1947, 1975)	4 (1952, 1958, 1966, 1968)	6 (1949, 1950, 1955, 1961, 1964, 1967)	12
Iran	—	1 (1995)	1 (1969)	—	2
South Korea	—	1 (1962)	2 (1995, 2015)	—	3
Cameroon	—	1 (2007)	—	1 (1975)	2
Argentina	—	1 (1957)	—	—	1
Czechoslovakia	—	1 (1946)	—	—	1
Denmark	—	—	2 (1947, 1948)	—	2
Syria	—	—	2 (1981, 2017)	—	2
Brazil	—	—	1 (2011)	1 (1957)	2
Croatia	—	—	1 (1999)	—	1
Ivory Coast	—	—	1 (2013)	—	1
Austria	—	—	—	1 (1979)	1
Congo	—	—	—	1 (1973)	1
Cyprus	—	—	—	1 (1995)	1
Guinea	—	—	—	1 (2001)	1
Lithuania	—	—	—	1 (2003)	1
Luxembourg	—	—	—	1 (1948)	1
United Arab Emirates	—	—	—	1 (1989)	1
Burkina Faso	—	—	—	1 (1997)	1
Azerbaijan	—	—	—	1 (2013)	1

Women

Year	Host nation		Final				Third Place Match
			Winner	Score	Second Place		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2001 Details	Netherlands		Germany	n/a	Netherlands		England	n/a	Canada
2002 Details	Kingston		United States	1–0	Germany		Netherlands	4–0	Canada
2003 Details	Warendorf		Germany	7–3	Netherlands		United States	1–0	Canada
2004 Details	Fort Eustis		Netherlands	3–0 (a.e.t.)	Germany		United States	3–1	Canada
2006 Details	Assen		Netherlands	2–0	United States		Germany	6–4 (a.e.t.)	France
2007 Details	Hyderabad *		North Korea	5–0	Germany		France	1–0	Netherlands
2008 Details	Ede		Germany	3–0	France		Netherlands	2–1	South Korea
2009 Details	Biloxi		Brazil	1–0	South Korea		Netherlands	2–1	France
2010 Details	Cherbourg-Octeville		Brazil	1–0	South Korea		France	2–1	Netherlands
2011 Details	Rio de Janeiro *		Brazil	5–0	Germany		Netherlands	2–0	France
2012 Details	Warendorf		Germany	1–0	South Korea		Brazil	2–0	France
2015 Details	Mungyeong *		Brazil	2–1 (a.e.t.)	France		South Korea	3–0	Netherlands
2016 Details	France		France	2–1	Brazil		South Korea	3–3 (a.e.t.) (4–3 p)	Cameroon
2018 Details	Fort Bliss		Brazil	3–2	South Korea		China	3–1	France
2019 Details	Wuhan *		North Korea	2–1	China		Brazil	3–1	South Korea
2020	Yaoundé[3]		Cancelled				Cancelled
2022 Details	Spokane		France	2–1	Cameroon		South Korea	3–0	United States
2023 Details	Bunschoten-Spakenburg		South Korea	1–0	France		Cameroon	4–0	Netherlands
2025 Details	Pyongyang			–				–

• ^n/a Round-robin tournament determined final standings.
• * Event integrated into the Military World Games.

Teams reaching the top four

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Total
Brazil	5 (2009, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2018)	1 (2016)	2 (2012, 2019)	—	8
Germany	4 (2001, 2003, 2008, 2012)	4 (2002, 2004, 2007, 2011)	1 (2006)	—	9
France	2 (2016, 2022)	3 (2008, 2015, 2023)	2 (2007, 2010)	5 (2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2018)	12
Netherlands	2 (2004, 2006)	2 (2001, 2003)	4 (2002, 2008, 2009, 2011)	4 (2007, 2010, 2015, 2023)	12
North Korea	2 (2007, 2019)	—	—	—	2
South Korea	1 (2023)	4 (2009, 2010, 2012, 2018)	3 (2015, 2016, 2022)	2 (2008, 2019)	10
United States	1 (2002)	1 (2006)	2 (2003, 2004)	1 (2022)	5
Cameroon	—	1 (2022)	1 (2023)	1 (2016)	3
China	—	1 (2019)	1 (2018)	—	2
England	—	—	1 (2001)	—	1
Canada	—	—	—	4 (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)	4

See also

• International Military Sports Council
• Football at the Military World Games
• African Military Cup
• Americas Military Cup