Thanks to the digital era, more people than ever are able to follow their favourite sports live online with minimal effort. This has led to sports being more popular than ever before. There are thousands of sports around the world, and literally billions of fans to go with them. But which sport has the biggest following? Ponder no more: in this article we will take a look at the world’s 10 most popular sports!
Top 3 – Soccer, Cricket & Field Hockey
The fact that soccer is the number one most popular sport in the world probably doesn’t come as a big surprise for anyone, except for maybe Americans; since the sport was never more than moderately popular in the USA. Soccer (known outside of the US simply as football) has over 4 billion global fans and followers. In other words, more than half the people on the planet! Competitions such as the world cup, Champions League, Premier League and Copa América attract more viewers than any other events, and are incredibly popular for sports betting. For more information about soccer betting in latin america, visit Brazillian onlineapostas.com.br.
The second most popular sport in the world is another one that never really hit it off in the US, cricket. Around the world, cricket has around 2,5 billions regular fans. The sport has the biggest following in the commonwealth, meaning the former British empire. This includes nations such as the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies and India. Fans of Indian cricket betting can find more information at cricketbetting.biz.
At third place comes field hockey with a whopping 2 billions global followers. The sport is a part of the olympics and held on a competitive level in roughly 100 countries in the world. The sport sees limited support in the US, as most people prefer ice hockey on a competitive level. Field hockey is, however, much more popular amongst participants.
4th to 6th place – Tennis, Volleyball & Table Tennis
The list continues with three more sports that see limited popularity in the USA. At fourth place, and the last sport on the list to pass 1 billion fans, is Tennis. Tennis has a huge following largely due to the ATP pro tour that travels all over the world. Every season climaxes in four major events called Grand Slams: Australian Open in Melbourne, French Open in Paris, Wimbledon in London and the US Open in New York City.
Volleyball and table tennis both have around 900 million fans throughout the world. In both cases, a large part of the sports’ popularity comes from the huge number of participants. Being easy to learn and more or less free to play, volleyball and table tennis have the biggest following in Latin America and Asia.
7th to 10th place – Basketball, Baseball, Rugby & Golf
On 7th place on the list we finally find one of the American favourites; basketball. Basketball has over 800 million fans all around the world, and events such as the NBA is incredibly popular. Number 8 is another all American favourite; baseball. Somewhat smaller, baseball has half a billion fans around the world. Although America, with events such as the MLB, is the biggest baseball nation in the world, it has a big following around the globe. As a matter of fact, baseball is the most popular sport in Japan, and the national high school championship is one of the most popular sports events in the nation.
At 9th and 10th place we find rugby and golf, with an estimated 475 and 450 million global followers.Like cricket, rugby sees the biggest following in the commonwealth. In most other nations, american football is more popular. Golf stands at the 10th most popular sport in the world, and the many pro tours traveling the world makes for very popular events for viewers and bettors.