Sports play a vital role in our lives. Some people take sports as a hobby, while some people make a career out of it. Undoubtedly people from different regions of the world have different favorite sports. This is why it becomes quite a challenge to determine the most popular sport in the world. This list will tell you about the top ten most popular sports in the world. Before we move on to the list, it is important to know the factors that were taken into consideration before deciding the popularity of a specific sport.
This list has been prepared using extensive criteria to make the list accurate. The global fan base and audience, TV rights details, viewership on TV, popularity on the internet, sponsorship deals, gender equality, the average salary of athletes, biggest competition, and many more factors helped in the preparation of this list.
10. Golf: 390 million fans
Golf is the tenth most popular sport in the world, with almost 390 million fans. Golf is a sport that is more popular among the elders than young people. Most of these fans are from the US, Europe, and Canada. Golf also has a high viewership on TV, but young male viewers are very low in number. It is considered a sport of the rich, and it also gets good TV rights deals for various tournaments.
9. American Football: 410 million fans
American Football or Football in the US, Gridiron, and some other countries also have a huge fan following. This sport Is highly popular in the United States, and it does not enjoy a good viewership outside the US. National Football League or NFL is the most famous American Football League in the world. Professional American Football players enjoy an average salary of $1.9 million. Super Bowl, the biggest event of this sport, is the most-watched event in the US.
8. Baseball: 500 million fans
Baseball has a vast number of fans in the US, Cuba, Canada, and the Dominican Republic. It is also prevalent on the internet, and the number of Baseball related google searches is also very high. The average salary of baseball players is more than $4 million. The players and teams also get very respectable sponsorships. Even though Baseball is one of the most male dominant sport, female participation is rising. USA has best team sports of Baseball.
7. Table Tennis: 900 million fans
It is also known as ping pong. The fans of Table Tennis are scattered all around the world. The fanbase consists of people of all age groups. Viewership on TV is limited to major events and the Olympics. The salary of professional players is also not that high. The salary could be between a few thousand dollars to almost a hundred thousand dollars. This proves that this sport is more famous as a hobby. Table tennis has fantastic gender equality.
6. Volleyball: 900 million fans
A team of six separated by a net. This sport packs a lot of excitement. The fans of Volleyball are present all over the world. The sport is not very popular on the internet, but people’s interest is increasing rapidly in Volleyball. Volleyball beat all other sports when it comes to the number of professional and semi-professional leagues. The top athletes can enjoy a salary of up to $1 million. We have mentioned about the Highest Paid Female Volleyball Players in world.
5. Tennis: 1 billion fans
Tennis holds the fifth position among the most popular sports in the world. Tennis superstars like Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are known all over the world. This sport is more popular in developed countries as compared to developing countries. The Four Grand Slams, the major competitions of tennis, is watched by more than 400 million people worldwide. Professional tennis players earn in millions through their salaries and sponsorship deals.
4. Hockey: 2.2 billion fans
Hockey has a fanbase of more than 2.2 billion people; this includes both the fans of field hockey and ice hockey. Hockey is moderately popular on the internet, and the number of hockey-related google searches varies from region to region. A National Hockey League US player enjoys an annual salary of $3 million on average. The Hockey world cup is the biggest tournament in field hockey.
3. Basketball: 2-3 billion fans
Basketball is one of the highest paying sports in the world. The number of basketball fans ranges from two to three billion. The viewership on TV is enormous, and the NBA gets millions of audiences. A few years ago, the NBA sold the TV rights deal for a whopping amount of $24 billion for nine years. Basketball players are highly popular on the internet. The average salary of an NBA athlete is $7.7 million. Stephen Curry is currently the highest-paid NBA player with a salary of $43 million! Players also get very impressive sponsorship deals.
2. Cricket: 2-3 billion fans
The fan base is limited to some countries, such as it is not popular in the US. However, it is still the second most famous sport in the world. Cricket is most-watched in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, West Indies, Australia, and Sri Lanka. Almost 1.6 billion people watched the live coverage of the 2019 world cup and 706 million viewers of the unique broadcast audience. It was 38% more than the world cup of 2015. The average salary of cricket players is hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus they make a lot of money from sponsorship deals. Here we have list of the Richest Cricketer in the World.
1. Soccer / Association football: 3.5 billion fans
Soccer has the largest fanbase, and the fans are in almost every part of the world. The number of loyal fans who follow the sport regularly is unmatched. Soccer is undoubtedly the king when it comes to viewership on television. Football stars such as Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar are famous all over the world. The Average salary of football players is in the millions, and they are some of the world’s highest-paid athletes. Major brands are always looking for football players to sponsor their brand. It doesn’t matter what part of the year it is; you will always find some news related to Football daily. Many people search for Football daily. There is a stadium ‘Rung ado May Day Stadium’ which is used for soccer.
