The ISSF World Cup was introduced by the International Shooting Sport Federation in 1986 to provide a homogeneous system for qualification to the Olympic shooting competitions. It still is carried out in the Olympic shooting events, with four competitions per year in each event. For the best shooters there is since 1988 a World Cup Final.

World Cup Final

The World Cup Final in rifle and pistol is often, but not always, held in Munich as the ISSF shooting season ending competition. The location and date of the World Cup Final in shotgun are more flexible. To the Final, the following shooters are qualified:

Editions

The venues are decided by the ISSF from time to time. However, some are more common than others. Two World Cups in rifle and pistol events are almost always held in Munich and Milan. The other two are usually held outside Europe, in places like Fort Benning, Buenos Aires, Seoul, Changwon or Sydney. Some common locations for the shotgun competitions are Nicosia, Lonato, New Delhi, and Americana, São Paulo. A new location for the shotgun competitions is held in Kerrville, Texas located in the Hill Country of Texas. In Olympic years, an early World Cup is held at the Olympic venue and considered a Pre-Olympic test event.

Rifle and pistol

{{legend|pink|Cancelled due to COVID-19}}

Shotgun

Running target (discontinued)

Spin-offs

The lack for a World Cup in the non-Olympic events has led to the creation of a European Cup by the European Shooting Confederation, based on largely the same rules as the ISSF World Cup. Originally it consisted of 300 metre rifle three positions, 300 metre rifle prone and 300 metre standard rifle, but since the 2005 season there is also a European Cup in 25 metre center-fire pistol and 25 metre standard pistol. Since 2016, there has also been a separate world cup specifically for junior shooters.

Multi-Medalists

In this table the shooters with at least 7 gold medals won in the World Cup stages. {{legend|palegreen|Still active}}