The Continental Cup (COC) is the highest level of XC Ski competition below the World Cup. FIS recognizes nine Continental Cup series:

The leader of each COC at certain points of the year is invited to start on the World Cup for the following period- with expenses paid by FIS. :

1) Alpine Cup aka OPA Cup (Andorra, Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany,  Italy, Spain, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Switzerland)

2) Australia/New Zealand Cup

3) Balkan Cup- (Albania, Bosnia&Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey)

4) Eastern Europe Cup- (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine)

5) Far East Cup- (China, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan)

6) NorAm Cup- Canada

7) Scandinavia Cup- (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden)

8) Slavic Cup- Hungary, Poland, Slovakia

9) US SuperTour- United States

The U.S. Ski Team will take a contingent of U.S. Athletes to compete in the OPA Cup Finals each March. The Selection Guidelines for this trip can be found in the Resources section.

Note that these guidelines are established at the request of the National Nordic Foundation who provide funding for athletes to attend the races.