posted May 1st, 2026 - The final adjustments to the NSL Power Rankings for the FAI Indoor World Cup 2026 were made on the day before Rounds 1 and 2 were completed on April 8th. NMP PCH HayaBusa team captain Dennis Praet also found time for a new NSL Live Talk on the last day before the competition, and his insights contributed to shaping the latest version of the preview leaderboards.

These “speculative predictions” made before the start of the competition turned out to be very close to the final results after all ten rounds in 4-way Open and 8-way Open were completed. Input from both experts and the audience helped refine the initial rankings of the registered teams.

The situation was different in 4-way Women, where the surprises extended even to the medal positions. A new duel between China and Nephtys for the gold medals could be anticipated after their battle at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2025, although China ultimately won by 19 points at Weembi Lille. The biggest surprises, however, were the dominance of the winners and the performance level of the second 4-way Women lineup, which also forms half of China's all-female 8-way Open Class team. Together, the two 4-way teams finished in 5th place on the 8-way leaderboard.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2026			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	NSL Power Rankings 4-way Women		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	China 1	CN	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Nephtys	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	NFTO	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	XPG4	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Thyra	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Meltemi Oceanside Illertissen	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Aeroxs	FI	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Airdrops	CH	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	WingX	CH	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Valkyrie	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Les Hermines	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	Indonesia Women	ID	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	China 2	CN	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

It was already known that China fields more than one 4-way Women team, as a different lineup competed at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2024 and finished in 5th place with a 23.2 average. However, the second half of China’s 8-way team at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2025 was not the same lineup that had competed in Macau in 2024. Instead, their teammates at Weembi Lille formed a new 4-way team, which went on to secure the bronze medal position in 4-way Women with a 25.8 average.

NFTO, featuring two 4-way Women outdoor world champions from 2022 (Anna Lea and Vana Parker), along with Sarah Ashworth and Julia Swallow, knew they had a realistic chance of winning at least bronze medals at Weembi Lille, as indicated by the final NSL Power Rankings. Other potential contenders for 3rd place were pushed out of medal contention after NFTO registered a strong lineup. This expectation proved largely accurate, as NFTO finished ahead of that group of teams—though only in 4th place. The second Chinese 4-way Women team secured 3rd place, finishing 25 points ahead of NFTO and taking the bronze medals back to China.

NFTO also had to keep a close eye on Norway’s new Thyra lineup, which significantly improved its previous team average (from 20.4 to 22.9) and challenged NFTO round by round. Thyra finished even ahead of the U.S. team XP Angels and could emerge as a medal contender at the outdoor world championship in October, after placing last two years ago at Crystal Coast.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2026			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		J,20,C,4		10,O,L,M		B,21,N,H		14,F,3		18,16,9		E,6,8		19,1,Q		G,5,12		P,D,17,22		15,11,2		Total	Avg
1	China Hubei 1	CN	31		35		37	-1	26	-1	30		29		29	-1	30		32		23	-2	302	30.2
2	Nephtys	FR	29		36		33	-4	25	-2	27		26	-1	28		29		29		21		283	28.3
3	China Hubei 2	CN	27	-2	28	-2	29	-2	24		25	-2	27		25		27	-3	26	-3	20	-2	258	25.8
4	NFTO	UK	24	-2	28	-1	32		23	-2	19	-4	18	-3	23		21	-1	25		20		233	23.3
5	Thyra	NO	25		26		27	-1	21		20		24		22	-1	20		25		19		229	22.9
6	XP Angels	US	26		23	-1	25	-2	23		20		22	-2	20	-3	20	-1	24		18	-1	221	22.1
7	Meltemi Oceanside Illertissen	DE	22		24		27		21		20		22		21		16	-3	21		16	-1	210	21.0
8	Airdrops	CH	19	-1	25		27		17	-3	18	-1	21		21	-2	16	-2	23		16		203	20.3
9	WingX	CH	21	-1	25		25	-2	21		19		17	-2	20	-1	19		21	-1	14	-2	202	20.2
10	Les Hermines	FR	22		22		23		20		15	-3	19		21		19		23		17		201	20.1
11	Indonesia Women	ID	20	-3	25		23	-4	19	-1	20	-1	19	-2	18	-2	20		19	-1	16	-1	199	19.9
12	Aeroxs	FI	20		21		24	-3	18	-1	16	-1	21		15	-3	17		18	-1	16		186	18.6
13	Valkyrie	IT	16	-3	23		24	-3	11	-5	17		18	-1	18	-2	18	-1	20		14	-2	179	17.9