Sports have become an integral part of people’s lives. It is extremely difficult to recognise which sports is more popular and liked by people. We have accumulated the list of top 10 world most popular sports. So without wasting any time let’s start with the list.
10. American Football
The game is one of the most popular sports in the USA, but when it comes to global level, it is at 9th position. It is played by two teams with 11 players on each side. The National Football League (NFL) is the most popular league of American Football. The game enjoys fan following of 390 – 410 million across the globe.
9. Rugby
Ruby is widely played in France, New Zealand and South Africa. The game was popularised by British colonists in the 19th century. Currently, Ruby has over 410 million fans in the world. The average salary of a Rugby player is $60,000.
8. Baseball
There are more than 500 million followers of Baseball in the world. The game is popular in countries such as Japan, Cuba, USA etc. It is played between two teams with nine players in each team. The sport is dominated by male, however women participation has swelled in recent times.
7. Table Tennis
Table Tennis is the 6th most popular sport in the world. It is equally famous in all parts of the world. Table Tennis is also known as Ping Pong. China is one of the dominating forces in the game and has won numerous medals in Table Tennis at Olympics and world championship. The game is gender neutral and it is played by both men and women across the world.
6. Volleyball
Volleyball enjoys around 900 million followers across the world. It is a team sport and has been a part of the Summer Olympics since 1964. The viewership of the game is limited to major events like olympics, world championship etc. Brazil is one of the dominant teams in volleyball.
5. Tennis
In the list of most popular sports in the world at number four we have Tennis. The game has produced some of the biggest sportspersons such as Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal etc. There are over 1 billion fans of tennis in the world. The Australian Open, Wimbledon, French Open and US Open are the four grand slams of Tennis that every player wishes to win once in their career.
4. Hockey
Hockey is a team sport and it has a rich history. It is played by two teams competing against each other to put the ball in the opponent’s goal post. Hockey is played on artificial turf as well as on ice. At present, there are over 2 billion fans of hockey (both turf + ice) in the world. The FIH Hockey World Cup is the biggest hockey competition in the world.
3. Basketball
Basketball is also a team sport. It is played by two teams with each team having 6 players. The game is massively popular in the USA, Canada, China etc. Basketball has around 2.3 billion fans. The United States of America is the most dominant team in basketball. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the most popular basketball league.
2. Cricket
At number two we have Cricket. It is played in a limited number of countries. Cricket is popular in India, Pakistan, Australia, England etc. The team sport has over 2.5 billion fans across the globe. Cricket has three formats recognised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) : T20, ODIs and Test cricket.
1. Football
The most popular sport in the world is Football. It has a fan following of over 3.5 billion. Football is played by over 250 million people in 200 countries. The FIFA World Cup is the most watched sports event in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the top famous footballers.