The championship, organized and promoted as its parent series by FGSport—renamed Infront Motor Sports in 2008[3]—until 2012 and by Dorna from the 2013 season onwards,[4] is sanctioned by the FIM.

Competition in the championship is typically fierce, and season domination by a single competitor is unusual.

In 2012, to be eligible for Supersport World Championship, a motorcycle must satisfy FIM's homologation requirements and have a four-stroke engine in one of the following configurations:[6] As of 2023, the homologated motorcycles were Ducati Panigale V2, Honda CBR600RR, Kawasaki ZX-6R, MV Agusta F3 800, Suzuki GSX-R600, Suzuki GSX-R600, Triumph Street Triple 765RS and Yamaha YZF-R6;[7] formerly homologated motorcycles include Bimota YB9, Ducati 748, Ducati 749, Honda CBR600F, MV Agusta F3 675, Triumph Daytona 600, Triumph Daytona 675, and Yamaha YZF600R.

The chassis of a supersport machine must remain largely as standard, while engine tuning is possible but tightly regulated.

Several riders who were successful in World Supersport have moved on to high-level competitions, notably, Cal Crutchlow, Chaz Davies, and Chris Vermeulen, though others such as Fabien Foret and Kenan Sofuoğlu have spent several years in this championship.

In 2021, the title winner was Altogo Racing Yamaha’s Kevin Manfredi, for 2022 it was Bahattin Sofuoglu for factory MV Agusta, and in 2023 Tom Booth-Amos won with the Kawasaki team Motozoo.