Continental rankings explained: how KBN decides your continent

Every KBN fighter has three ranks in their division: national, continental and world. The continental rank is the one that surprises people most often, usually because they are unsure which continent a country belongs to. Here is how it works.

One calculation, three views

KBN calculates points once. The world table orders every eligible fighter in a division by points, then verified wins, then last name. The continental table is simply the world table filtered to fighters whose country is on the same continent; the national table is filtered to one country.

That design guarantees consistency. If fighter A is above fighter B in the world table and both are from the same continent, A is above B in the continental table too.

How the continent is decided

The continent comes from the fighter's country, not from where they live or where they fight. Each country in the KBN register has a continent setting.

The Turkey question

Turkey spans Europe and Asia, and sports bodies place it differently. KBN's default is Europe, and it is a configurable setting so the federation can confirm or change it. It is one of the open decisions listed for KBN to confirm. If it changes, every Turkish fighter's continental ranking is recalculated at once.

Where continental championships fit

Continental rankings are separate from continental championships. A Continental Championship is an event level with a ×2.0 multiplier; the continental ranking is a view of the table. A Brazilian fighter who wins a European open event earns points at that event's level, and those points count in the South American continental table, because the continent follows the fighter's country.

Reading continental ranks

On a fighter profile you will see something like "World #4 · Asia #2 · Uzbekistan #1". Those three numbers come from the same points. In the certificate and licence, the continental rank appears alongside the national and world ranks.

Filtering the rankings page

On the rankings page choose the scope (world, a continent, or a country), then discipline, category, gender and weight class. The filters are in the URL, so you can share a link to exactly the table you are looking at.

Open the rankings →

World, continental, national: the three scopes →

Why continental ranks matter

Continental ranks are useful for selection to continental championships, for regional sponsors and for athletes whose world position is modest but who lead their region. They also show where a continent's strength lies in each division.

Continental ranks on documents

The licence shows national, continental and world ranks together, and the certificate states the athlete's achievement line. All three are rendered live from the register when the document is opened, and the verify page is always the authority.

Myths and facts

Continents with few branches

Some continents currently have few KBN branches, for example South America with Brazil. Continental tables there are small today and will grow as more countries join. The rules are identical everywhere; only the number of ranked athletes differs.

Frequently asked questions