What are the most popular sports in the world? Which are the most practiced? Here are the rankings of the most popular and popular disciplines globally.
Most followed and practiced sports in the world: it’s not easy to draw up precise rankings, even though objective data such as the number of registered members or average spectators at various venues or in front of TVs exist.
First, we need to clearly define the sports spectrum, since we could only discuss disciplines with official international federations, but doing so would exclude fitness or simple walking, two more common examples of physical activity.
Worldwide, it’s estimated that there are 250-300 million competitive or federated athletes, with the number rising to 5-6 billion if we consider the total number of physically active people.
According to these numbers, essentially three out of four people in the world participate in some type of sport—especially in Europe and North America, less so in Africa—but to determine which are the most popular sports, an objective criterion is needed.
Let’s take a detailed look at the ranking of the 10 most popular sports in the world and the 10 most followed sports in the world.
Ranking of the 10 most popular sports in the world
To compile the ranking of the 10 most popular sports in the world, we need to add together the numbers of competitive and amateur players, a way to get a complete global picture.
- Football - 4 billion
- Cricket - 2.5 billion
- Hockey (field + ice) - 2 billion
- Tennis - 1 billion
- Volleyball - 900 million
- Table Tennis - 850 million
- Basketball - 800 million
- Baseball/Softball - 500 million
- Golf - 450 million
- Athletics - 400 million
Football thus confirms its position as the most popular sport in the world, given its simplicity—after all, all you need is a ball—and its media coverage across every continent.
It’s no surprise to see cricket in second place in this ranking, given that we’re talking about the national sport in highly populated countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The same goes for field hockey and table tennis, which is widely played in China.
basketball, volleyball, and track and field are popular sports at school, while among the emerging sports, padel deserves special mention, having quickly won over 60 million people.
Ranking of the 10 most followed sports in the world
The ranking of the 10 most followed sports in the world, on the other hand, is based on a complex cross-referencing of data regarding TV and streaming audiences, social media interactions, and live attendance at various venues.
- Football - 4.0 billion
- Cricket - 2.5 billion
- Basketball - 2.4 billion
- Tennis - 1.5 billion
- Athletics - 1.0 billion
- Formula 1 - 900 million
- MMA/UFC - 800 million
- Volleyball - 700 million
- Rugby - 500 million
- Baseball - 480 million
The most popular sport in the world is soccer, with football also dominating this special ranking, while second place remains identical for the reasons mentioned above.
Of course, regional distinctions must be made. In Europe, in addition to football, tennis and basketball are also widely followed. These two sports are also very popular in North America, as is MMA/UFC, which is also popular in Russia and Asia, where, however, cricket dominates.
To understand how popular the various sports are, we can give some examples: the 2022 World Cup final was watched by 1.5 billion viewers, the 2023 NBA final by 160 million, and the NFL Super Bowl by 200 million.
If we also consider eSports, we must also mention the 550 million viewers—mostly young people—who connect, especially on platforms like Twitch.
Original article published on Money.it Italy. Original title: La classifica degli sport più seguiti e praticati al mondo
