The most popular sports in the world are not just determined by the sheer amount of people who play them, but rather by a combination of that, along with the amount of fans each sport has. Sports have been played in some capacity since 2000 BC, and the popularity of certain sports has risen and fallen over time. Moreover, some sports have simply evolved, and morphed into new things that have their own levels of popularity.
The one thing that consistently makes these sports last is money. We recently ranked the 10 most profitable US sports teams which shows how the combination of big markets and long-lasting sports together create a popular sport. By having the sport constantly being played on national TV and headlining sports news, it perpetuates the interest in the sport and desire to play it among kids.
Ranking these sports can be difficult, as there are numerous factors that do go into determining it. Fans are a main factor, along with things such as fan engagement and the media surrounding sports. For example, a sport like baseball has a lot of fans, but it’s trending down (more on this later) as the fans are becoming less and less interested in the sport. So, without further adieu, lets rank the most popular sports in the world.
8. American Football
With over 400 million fans, American football is one of the most popular sports in the world for sure, but its growth rate is starting to flatten out. The sport is dominated by Americans, and is mostly popular only in the United States (and to a lesser extent, Canada).
American Football is in the process of trying to spread its wings by having a game in London almost every week. The problem is that the press around the sport has been horrible in recent months. It can be very hard for a sport to grow when the main concern around it is safety. With all of the concussion lawsuits and science advancements, it becomes clearer and clearer each week that football is simply a dangerous sport to play.
Finally, proportional to the amount of income the sport brings in, football players have some of the worst contracts in the world, especially when factoring in the short average career span for the average player. While it is an incredibly popular sport for now, it’s yet to be seen whether American football can truly become a global power.
The list of the most popular sports in the world continues on the next page with one of the most frustrating but rewarding sports in the world.
7. Golf
Golf is an incredibly global sport, with players spanning the world and multiple tournaments, such as the Presidents Cup, that pit nations and regions against each other in competition. There are over 450 million fans of the sport, and the only thing standing in its way from continued growth is a potential lack of star power. Like him or not, Tiger Woods draws ratings, and makes the sport more relevant when he’s on top of his game. It looks like Rory McIlroy may take the torch and continue to draw ratings, but so far he’s been inconsistent in between Major victories.
6. Baseball
Baseball has long been one of the most popular sports in the US, and even considered America’s Pastime, but the sport is trending down even in that market. It’s most popular in the US, Japan, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba, but has failed to catch on in Europe and other major markets. Part of the reason baseball is losing steam is the steroid controversies clouding the sport, but more-so, it’s baseball’s failure to adapt. To make matters worse, baseball is climate specific, and that may be part of the reason it hasn’t caught on in Europe. With less and less young American athletes pursuing the sport as a career, baseball will be lucky to be in the top ten most popular sports in the world in ten years.
5. Table Tennis
Some people may not consider this to be a serious sport, but large parts of Europe and Asia would heavily disagree. The sport has over 900 million total fans, and the championship tournament is on ESPN each year and regularly draws solid ratings. While the prize money may be low compared to other sports on this list, the prestige is large as the best ping pong players in the world are greatly respected in their home countries.
4. Volleyball
With a fan base nearing 1 billion, volleyball is a global sport with large fan-bases in both Americas, Australia, Europe and Asia. The main issue stunting volleyball’s growth is the lack of potential monitory gain. Athletes in many countries that have natural skills which would make them thrive in volleyball prefer other sports that have a chance to pay them millions of dollars. Yet, even with these constrictions, volleyball remains a wildly popular sport that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
3. Basketball
Basketball was the toughest sport on this list to rank. The overall fan base is listed at 400 million but it’s also the fastest growing sport in the world. Starting with the Dream Team in the 1992 Olympics, fans all over the world started wanting to play the sport. Moreover, it’s an easy sport to play, and doesn’t require expensive equipment that might prevent certain people from playing it. The sport has continued to grow in markets such as China and throughout Africa as major players hailing from all over the world have started to achieve great success playing in the NBA.
With the growth of the internet, scouting has increased as well and fans all over the world have started following the sport. Finally, basketball is one of the best paying sports, and not just in America. The women’s league in Russia has an average salary of $1 million, and players can make large sums of money playing in European leagues. The opportunity for basketball to be a career for women as well as its burgeoning global interest makes the sport one of the fastest growing and most popular sports in the world.
2. Cricket
Most popular in India, the United Kingdom, and Pakistan, cricket is the second most popular sport in the world with over 3 billion fans. Cricket has a resemblance to baseball in its setup, but is different in that there’s much more scoring. And while the games span the course of multiple days, the pace of play is faster than that of baseball, and largely accounts for why baseball has never caught on in those regions.
As well, cricket is largely played by national teams, and because of the large amount of pride between the countries involved, it creates an intense atmosphere and rich history for the sport. Cricket continues to grow and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it hit America at some point in the future.
1. Soccer/Association Football
With over 3.5 billion fans, Soccer has long been and continues to be the most popular sport in the world. It has star power in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with rich contracts, global popularity, and the most popular championship event in the world in the World Cup. Moreover, the sport is really starting to take off in the United States. It was already the most popular sport in the world when America seemed to not care at all about the sport. With its rise in the United States now soccer may even become more popular, if that’s possible. Regardless of how much it does grow, one thing is clear, soccer (or football as it’s called everywhere outside of North America), is the most popular sport in the world.
