Did you know there’s a photography world cup? There is

You may not have heard of the World Photographic Cup (we definitely hadn't) but it's just celebrated its tenth anniversary

We've been saying for years that there should be some sort of global Olympics for photographers, but little did we know – there has been all along. Clearly, we've been living under a rock. But in our defense, the competition doesn't have the best promotion – with as little as 3,000 followers on Instagram.

The World Photographic Cup (WPC) was founded in 2013 with the singular goal to unite photographers worldwide in the spirit of friendship and cooperation. It does, however, seem to be a little exclusive with only one team per country allowed to enter, which must be created by a national association, and committee-approved.

• These are the best professional cameras worthy of world cup winners

The WPC celebrated its tenth anniversary in March, while announcing at an awards ceremony in Singapore that Mexico had won the 2023 Cup for the second year in a row.

The 2023 winning images are truly phenomenal examples of world-class photography, and the results of the overall competition were said to be very close, with only three points separating the podium-finishing teams.

Team Australia claimed the second-place crystal trophy, followed by Team United States in third place. The rest of the top ten teams, in rank order, were Malaysia, Portugal, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Austria, Costa Rica and finally New Zealand in tenth place.

Founded in 2013, it all began when the Federation of European Photographers and the Professional Photographers of America came together in the creation of the World Photographic Cup as a one-of-a-kind Olympic-style team competition.

"The quality of images entered from teams around the world gets stronger every year," said WPC inaugural chief executive officer, Giuseppe Scozzi. "The WPC is the only Olympics-style event in the world for photography.

"Over the past ten years the competition has grown and with it the standard of entries. WPC truly showcases the best in photography from across the world. Those who do succeed can truly claim to have created the best photography in the world and WPC is the vehicle for showcasing this work."

Scozzi was overseeing his last Cup, as he will be retiring from the organization to be replaced by Australian photographer Kylie Lyons – who has been a member of the WPC Governing Committee since 2014.

The tenth edition of the WPC Collection can be viewed in a commemorative book, available to purchase for approximately $76 / £61 / AU$114.

Registration for entries to the 2024 edition of the World Photographic Cup will be open from July 01 - October 31 2023.

You might also be interested in the best Sony cameras, as well as the best Canon cameras and the best Nikon cameras used by professionals.

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A staff writer for Digital Camera World, Beth has an extensive background in various elements of technology with five years of experience working as a tester and sales assistant for CeX. After completing a degree in Music Journalism, followed by obtaining a Master's degree in Photography awarded by the University of Brighton, she spends her time outside of DCW as a freelance photographer specialising in live music events and band press shots under the alias 'bethshootsbands'.