Do you like sports? If so, which sport are you most likely to follow? It turns out that some sports are more popular than others all over the world, with football (also known as soccer) being the king of sports followed by Cricket and Hockey respectively. To know more about the top 10 most popular sports in the world, check out this list below.
10. Golf
In golf, players use a wide variety of clubs to hit balls into holes on a course using the fewest number of strokes possible.
A golf stroke consists of hitting a ball with a club from the teeing ground and hitting it into the hole with successive strokes in accordance with the Rules.
The sport is more popular with the elderly compared to younger people with most of these fans living in North America, Canada, and Europe. People from the upper classes tend to watch this sport more than anything else.
9. Rugby
France is a leader in the development of rugby, and the game has a particularly strong tradition in the Basque, Occitan, and Catalan regions along the Spanish-French border. Rugby is also popular in South Africa, having been introduced to the country by English settlers in the 19th century.
In Australia and New Zealand the game has also spread, and it has become widely popular in Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. This game has also been highly popular throughout Polynesia, with particularly strong followings in Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga.
3. Baseball
The objective of the game is to put runs on the board by swinging a bat and hitting a ball thrown by the pitcher.
Batting a baseball typically happens around four bases: first, second, third, and home plate. A run is tallied when the runner makes it back to home base.
Around 500 million people across the US, Japan, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic follow the sport, making it the eighth most popular in the world. As the sport is watched across the countries it ranks better in viewership than other countries.
4. Basketball
In basketball, two teams of five players face off on a rectangular court, where the objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop at each end.
If a player has shot the ball through the basket from near the baseline of the basket, he or she has scored two points. Three points will be scored if the player has shot the ball from near the baseline of the basket and is outside the three-point line.
In the US, it enjoys great TV viewership because of the NBA. It is the most popular league in the world and is watched and followed by millions of people around the world, so much so that in 2016, the NBA sold the TV rights deal for a staggering $24 billion for 9 years.
6. Table Tennis (Ping Pong)
Also known as Ping Pong, Table Tennis is a fast-paced indoor sport for two to four players in which a ball is used to knock the other side’s pieces off the table, using either an impact surface such as a ball, or the opposition’s body.
Except for the first serve, players are only allowed to return a ball after it bounces once on their side of the table. They must then bounce it back to the other side.
Though people all over the world enjoy table tennis, the majority of its fans are scattered throughout Asia, Europe, and North America, making it the seventh most popular sport in the world.
Although most countries in the world are in on the popularity of the sport, the sport is only pursued as a hobby in most areas and at the professional level in few regions, like China, Sweden, Japan, and South Korea.
5. Volleyball
One-on-one or two-on-two matchups make up tennis (singles and doubles).
The object of the game is to land the ball on the other side of the net so accurately that the opponent cannot hit it back over the net.
Famous modern tennis stars such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic are widely-known all over the world and have hundreds of millions of fans around the world. Older generations will mention players such as Pete Sampras and Boris Becker.
These four major events, called the Grand Slams, are viewed by over 400 million people worldwide.
4. Tennis
Tennis is typically a one-on-one or two-on-two matchup of opposing players (singles and doubles).
The aim of the game is to land the ball on the other side of the net with such precision that the opponent is unable to hit it back over the net.
Modern tennis superstars such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic are well-known throughout the world and have hundreds of millions of fans around the world. While our elders also mention players such as Pete Sampras and Boris Becker.
The four major Tennis competitions, called the Grand Slams, are watched by more than 400 million people worldwide.
3. Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams compete by maneuvering a ball or puck into the opposing team’s goal. If one particular sport, typically field hockey or ice hockey, is being discussed, it is most commonly referred to as hockey.
One hockey game leads to another. Ice hockey, which is popular in Canada, the United States, and Latvia, for example, has about two billion fans. Combined with field hockey, which is popular in India and Pakistan, there are around 2.2 billion total fans.
While Field Hockey is widely viewed in the countries of Pakistan, India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Malaysia, and the Netherlands, it pales in comparison to the likes of Hockey, in Canada and the USA. It should be noted that both forms of hockey are featured events in the Olympics.
2. Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game that two teams of 11 players take part in on a rectangular field of 22 yards long and wide. When a team is up to bat, the other team is out, trying to stop the batter from scoring a run.
Cricket is typically played as a team sport in three formats: Test cricket, One Day Internationals, and Twenty20.
Cricket is the most-watched sport in the second most populated country in the world, India, and in the subcontinent it occupies which includes Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Not only do West Indies, South Africa, and Australia have the most cricket viewers but an astounding 2.2 billion people watched the Cricket World Cup 2015 on their televisions.
1. Football
Soccer is a sport that involves two teams of eleven players, who use a spherical ball to play the game. It is currently played by more than 250 million people in over 200 countries. It is also the world’s most popular sport.
The game is played on a rectangle-shaped field with a goal at each end. The objective of the game is to score by kicking or throwing the ball with any part of the body.
As for goalkeepers, they are the only players who are allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms. Around 3.5 billion people follow football, which amounts to around half the world’s population. The sport is liked in nearly every country in the world.
