The organization of the World Pastry Cup recently announced the new Top 7, in other words, the seven countries that have recorded the highest scores in the last three editions and, for this reason, have guaranteed their place in the grand finale. Of course, the organization requires them to hold a national qualifying competition to decide the members of each team. The countries are France, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the UK, and the USA.

Keeping in mind that Italy is the recent winner of the last edition of the competition and, as the rules state, cannot present itself in the following one, they must wait until 2019 to participate. The distinctly Asian roster comes as a surprise. Although Japan is the only Asian country that has frequently stepped onto the podium of the competition, the regularity and competitiveness of the Asian teams has led them to deserve to be part of this privileged club. Also keep in mind that other countries with great pastry traditions, as is the case of Belgium, Spain and Holland, did not participate in the recent 2015 edition, which explains the reason their presence at the 2017 final cannot be guaranteed without first going though the corresponding European qualifying competition.