World’s Most Popular Sports in 2023

Sports have the ability to bring people together from all walks of life, regardless of language, culture, or nationality. From the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat, there’s something about sports that captures our hearts and keeps us coming back for more.

While the popularity of different sports varies depending on the region and country, there are some that have managed to capture the world’s attention and stand out as the most beloved and widely played games.

Let’s take a closer look at the 10 most popular sports in the world, based on a number of factors ranging from the size of sporting events to TV viewing figures.

World’s Most Popular Sports

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world with approximately 4.0 billion fans, and is particularly popular in Europe, Central and South America and Africa. However, recent years have also seen a growing popularity of football in Oceania, Asia and the United States of America.

Cricket is the second most watched sport in the world with about 2.6 billion fans, mainly in India, where cricket is the national sport. While cricket is little known to Europeans, it is very popular in several countries in Asia.

Basketball is in third place with 2.2 billion fans worldwide. The sport is very popular in the United States, where the NBA is the most famous and strongest basketball league on the globe, but also in Europe where the strongest national teams have been competing with the Americans for years.

Field and ice hockey ranks fourth with 2 billion fans worldwide. Hockey is particularly popular in India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Great Britain, while ice hockey is followed mainly in the United States and Canada.

Tennis ranks fifth with 1 billion fans worldwide and is particularly popular in Europe, the Americas and Oceania, where, not surprisingly, the greatest champions in the history of the sport belong.

Volleyball and Table Tennis, occupy the 6th and 7th positions with around 900 million fans. The former, however, is popular practically everywhere in the world, while the latter mainly in Asia.

In 8th place, Baseball is followed by half a billion people and is popular mainly in North and Central America, but also in Asia and, in recent years, has also grown in Europe.

Rugby, with its 400 million fans ranks 9th, being followed mainly in Europe, South America, Africa and Oceania.

Finally in 10th place is American Football, which has 400 million fans mainly in the United States.

Most Followed Sports by Country