How the curling world rankings work
Curling has two world rankings:
- Associations Rankings rank countries (member associations) by their results at the World Championships and the Olympic or Paralympic Winter Games. This is the one that matters for national teams.
- Team Rankings (WCTRS) rank club teams on the professional tour by their best eight results of the season.
For the country ranking, a World Championship winner gets 500 points, second 400, third 325, down to 1. Lower divisions continue the same scale, so every country that plays gets points. Points from the last four seasons count, with older seasons worth less. The final score is shown as a percentage of the most a country could possibly have scored.
Associations Rankings
What counts. In each discipline there are up to two "ranking championship groups" (RCG). A country scores once from each group in a season.
| Discipline | RCG 1 | RCG 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Men, women, mixed doubles | World Championships and their lower divisions | Olympic Winter Games |
| Wheelchair, wheelchair mixed doubles | World Championships and divisions | Paralympic Winter Games |
| Mixed, juniors, junior mixed doubles, seniors | World Championships and divisions | none |
What does not count: the European Curling Championships (from this cycle), the Youth Olympic Games, the European Youth Olympic Festival, the World University Games and the Asian Winter Games.
Points by place (the same table for every group):
| Place | Points | Place | Points | Place | Points | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 500 | 13 | 70 | 25 | 26 | 37 | 10 |
| 2 | 400 | 14 | 60 | 26 | 24 | 38 | 9 |
| 3 | 325 | 15 | 55 | 27 | 22 | 39 | 8 |
| 4 | 250 | 16 | 50 | 28 | 20 | 40 | 7 |
| 5 | 200 | 17 | 45 | 29 | 18 | 41 | 6 |
| 6 | 180 | 18 | 40 | 30 | 17 | 42 | 5 |
| 7 | 160 | 19 | 38 | 31 | 16 | 43 | 4 |
| 8 | 140 | 20 | 36 | 32 | 15 | 44 | 3 |
| 9 | 120 | 21 | 34 | 33 | 14 | 45 | 2 |
| 10 | 100 | 22 | 32 | 34 | 13 | 46 to 48 | 1 |
| 11 | 90 | 23 | 30 | 35 | 12 | ||
| 12 | 80 | 24 | 28 | 36 | 11 |
How the divisions join up (men's and women's World Championships):
| Division | Teams | Who gets points | Ranking places |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 18 | 1st to 18th | 1 to 18 |
| B | 16 | 5th to 16th (the top four are promoted) | 19 to 30 |
| C (two parallel events, treated as equal) | open | 3rd and below (the top two are promoted) | from 31 |
A country can play C, B and A in the same season; it keeps its highest placing.
Shared places. If several countries share a place (for example four quarter-final losers all placed fifth), they share the points: (200 + 180 + 160 + 140) ÷ 4 = 170 each.
Older seasons count less:
| Season | Weight |
|---|---|
| Current | 100% |
| Last season | 75% |
| Two seasons back | 50% |
| Three seasons back | 35% |
Ranking score. The weighted points are added up and divided by the most a country could have scored in the period (winning everything), shown as a percentage with three decimals. 100.000 is the maximum. Ties are broken by countback of points per season; if still level, by association name.
Other rules:
- The rankings are published on the Wednesday after the last championship that counts.
- If a country enters more than one team, only its best team counts.
- Great Britain's Olympic points go to the association that represents it (currently Scotland).
- A championship that is a qualifier gives no points to the countries that qualify, unless stated.
Team Rankings (WCTRS)
Every tour event has a strength of field multiplier (SFM). Teams get points for their final place, scaled by the SFM. A team's world ranking is its best eight results of the season. Events are grouped into three series:
| Series | Events | Results counted for the series standings |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | World Championships, European Championships, world qualifiers, national championships, Grand Slam of Curling | Best 5 |
| Elite | Tour events with an SFM of 4.0 to 8.0 | Best 5 |
| Challenger | Tour events with an SFM of 3.9 or less | Best 5 |
A worked example
Made up to show the arithmetic. A country's men's team over four seasons: B division 7th (ranking place 21, 34 points) three seasons back; B division 5th (place 19, 38) two seasons back; A division 16th (50) last season; A division 12th (80) this season.
34 × 35% + 38 × 50% + 50 × 75% + 80 × 100% = 11.9 + 19 + 37.5 + 80 = 148.4 points, then turned into a percentage of the maximum possible.
The World Curling website's description says older points are worth 75%, 60% and 40%. The 2026-2030 document says 75%, 50% and 35%, and lists "the deprecation of ranking points over time has been adjusted" as a change. The website text matches the 2018/19 weights given in the document's history. This explainer uses the 2026-2030 document.
Variations
| Ranking | Covered here |
|---|---|
| Men, women, mixed doubles, mixed, juniors, seniors (associations) | Yes |
| Wheelchair and wheelchair mixed doubles (associations) | Yes (same method) |
| Team rankings (WCTRS) | Outline only |