The 30 Most Popular Sports in the World + #1 by country
An estimated more than 4 billion people throughout the world watch or play football regularly, making it the most popular sport in the world. The Stanley Cup, Winter Olympics, and the IIHF World Championships are the major events for ice hockey. These events have made the sport more famous over the years hence its ranking among the best. Nowadays, tennis is one of the most popular sports in the world with millions of recreational players acoss the globe. Aside from the French Open and Australian Open, the US Open National Championship is also popular with some of the world’s best tennis athletes competing. A team sport, it’s played between two teams of six, each of which tries to score points by sending the ball to the ground on the other side.
Football family
Countries like China, Japan, and South Korea have made strides in recent years. The sport is simple to understand, requiring minimal equipment to play. It is a game that can be played by anyone, regardless of age, gender, or socioeconomic status.
Boxing
In simple words, around 1.17% of the world's population plays this incredible game. People of all ages, walks of life and skill levels can play this sport, it is one of the most commonly played individual sports out there, although it does take a lot of practice to get good at. The highest level of professional hockey is the National Hockey League, which features professional teams from the USA and Canada. Hockey is another incredibly popular sport, dating back to ancient times. It is a hugely popular game in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. Football is the most famous sport in 2024, with a massive global following.
- Athletics, the heart of the Olympic Games, includes events like sprinting, long-distance running, and the decathlon.
- Opposite to football, fans prefer watching the NBA over worldwide tournaments like the Olympic Games, where players are gathered by countries.
- Audiences have been captivated by golf, widely considered one of the world’s most sophisticated and elegant sports, for generations.
- While the complete rule set is quite complicated, the game requires physical fitness and quick reflexes to stop the ball from touching the ground and hit it onto your opponent’s side.
Both Ice and field hockey are among the you can look here most favourite sports in the world. Also known as ping pong, since 2003, the table tennis fan base has increased to as much as 875 million. With an estimated 270 million players, soccer is a team sport with the highest number of participants in the world.
In ancient China, around the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE, people played the first known ball game called Cuju with a leather ball filled with feathers. In ancient Greece and Rome, people also played ball games, although not in major events like the Panhellenic Games. Here are the top ten most watched sports on Earth, along with where they are most popular and where their fan bases are located. Most Popular Sport in the world is fans top favorite Soccer or Football.