Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Chères Mesdames et Messieurs,
Members and Provisional Members, Membres et membres provisoires inclus
Purpose
The purpose of this communication is to provide an explanation for a one-off change to the World Rankings (WR) which will occur in the rankings as at the end of September 2025, to be published shortly.
Background
As outlined in the FISTF Handbook (section 2.12.1(b)), when compiling results and rankings of any one month, points from the previous 12 months are counted in full, points from between 12- and 24- months prior are halved and points from more than 24 months prior are removed.
This has been the method for calculating the World Rankings for many years. However, Member Nations might recall that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when very few tournaments were played for many months, a decision was made to take into account results for a three-year period, on a diminishing basis (that is, 100% of points for the previous 12 months, 100% for months 13 to 24, and 50% for months 25 to 36). If that had not been done, many/most players would have disappeared from the rankings, given the lack of tournaments.
The basic rule for calculating the World Rankings was restored for the 2023-24 season, with points from the previous 12 months counted in full, and points from between 12- and 24- months counted at 50%. However, when this was done, the Board also decided to keep the temporary “COVID rule” for past tournaments in order to not have big changes in WR and to let points disappear month by month applying the new rule. While results from older tournaments have disappeared month-by-month over the past two years, one consequence of this approach was that some old tournaments still had their points counted 100%, while newer tournaments played from 2023-24 onwards were only counted at 50%.
Now that we have started the 2025-26 season, and COVID is now several years behind us, the Board has decided to end the transitional adjustment process, which is already substantially complete, and to apply the WR formula strictly as outlined in the Handbook from the start of this season.
This means that some older results (that is, those from 25 – 36 months ago) which have until now been counted at 50% will no longer be counted in the World Rankings. In other words, results from tournaments played in the 2022-23 season will not be counted in the calculation of the WR.
Although many players’ rankings will be unaffected by this change, it will have a one-off effect on the number of points shown for each player and, possibly, on their ranking as at the end of September. However, the Board thinks that this is the fairest approach given that we have now had two full seasons since the end of COVID on which to base the World Rankings.
With kindest regards FISTF Board