posted Aug 4th, 2017 - The FAI World Cup 2017 is just around the corner, and the NSL News will launch the live coverage of the event from Saarlouis in Germany on Saturday.

The first preview story on 21 April 2017 reported that two U.S. teams would make the trip to Europe this year, SDC Rhythm XP and Mass Defiance. The story on 9 June 2017 followed up with the great news that 30 teams were registered for the event.

The number has gone up to 31 in the meantime, even though the delegation from Qatar will not be in Saarlouis.

The participation at the military CISM Championships completed the trip to Europe, and the world class 4-way and 8-way teams have traveled back to their homeland on the Arabian Peninsula.

The power rankings of the FAI World Cup 2017 present most of the teams with their scoring histories, while a few of them still have to be identified properly.

However, at least the teams in the Top 10 rankings are showing the strength of the field in 4-way Open. It will be a great achievement to make the Top 10, and four teams will probably battle for the three sets of FAI medals.

FAI World Cup 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	RealFly-Sion	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Black Cat	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Airbus	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Barguzin	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Mass Defiance	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8	Espoir Saumur Weembi	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	ISR FireFlash	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Chimera	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	AtomiX YUU	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Ex3mo	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13	Tanay Wolves	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
14	Out of the Blue	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	NeVa	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
16	Espoir Maubeuge Weembi	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
17	Antimatter	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
18	Team C4	SE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
19	Phoenix	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20	Spain	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
21	Sky4four	PL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
22	Australia	AU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
23	Atmosfera G4	PT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
24	Aurora	SE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
25	Austria	AT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
26	Ukraine	UA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
27	Cyprus	CY	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
28	Turkey	TR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
29	Romania	RO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
30	Switzerland	CH	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
31	UK Team	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The competition for a Top 10 position has no impact any longer on the number of rounds that the teams will perform after the rule changes in 2016. All teams will be completing ten rounds without any cuts after Rounds 8 and 9. However, a Top 10 position is still a number of honor for any team that makes it to a world cup or a world meet.

France has the potential to place three teams in the Top 10, not counting the French Weembi Girls, who will have to win gold medals for France in 4-way Women. There is no doubt that they will still orient themselves once again with the scores on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard.

There might be a serious competition for the 2nd place in 4-way Women between the new Russian Bubble Trouble team and Parachute Montreal Fuzion. The NSL News had introduced the Russian team after the Russian Indoor Nationals 2017 with the story on 23 May.

The Bubble Trouble indoor performance was convincing, and the same lineup is going outdoors now. The Canadian team may have to work harder than possibly expected to win the silver medals in Saarlouis.

FAI World Cup 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	French Weembi Girls	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Parachute Montreal Fuzion	CA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Bubble Trouble	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	No Mercy	PL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	PTW	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Meija	SE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	UK Team	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The Golden Knights will once again bring the best 8-way performance in history to the audience after traveling to Germany this week. The world champions of 2012, 2014 and 2016 compete with their new lineup, which includes Jennifer Davidson, as the NSL News reported on 28 December 2016. The scores in Saarlouis determine the starting point for the new 2-year cycle of the US Army team.

France has registered an 8-way lineup, apparently with members of several different previous national teams. The Golden Knights will be out of reach for any other 8-way teams at the FAI World Cup 2017, and France will probably have to be more alert about the situation behind. Tanay from Russia was already close at the FAI Mondial 2016 and has continued with training.

NMP PCH HayaBusa's 8-way team, the Belgian Fly-In Machine 44, with the complete ISR FireFlash lineup as the other half, is ready to post the first outdoor scores after a very impressive indoor performance at the French Indoor Nationals 2017. Even the Golden Knights will probably take a closer look at the new Belgian national 8-way team. France and Russia both will have to keep their eyes on the Fly-In Machine 44.

However, the Belgian double duties in 4-way and 8-way are just a first test to check out how much distraction it is at an outdoor competition. The 4-way and 8-way numbers next week will be carefully evaluated by HayaBusa coach Gary Smith...

FAI World Cup 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Tanay	RU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Weembi 8	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Fly-In Machine 44	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Ride the Dragon	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	UK Team	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-