Most Popular Sports By Country In 2024

Last updated on July 13th, 2024

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When it comes to sports and popularity, football/soccer has no competition whatsoever. With more than 3.5 billion fans around the world, making for nearly half the global population, football/soccer is more like a religion than just a regular sport. However, this subject brings up an interesting question: what are the most popular sports in the world by country?

Considering that the popularity of sports depends on many factors such as location, culture, geopolitics, history, and even class division, different sports boast different popularity in different countries. This is what inspired us to sit down and conduct in-depth research to see which are the most popular sports by country in 2024.

So, without further ado, we present you the five most popular sports in various countries around the world, ranked from the most popular to the least popular. From the USA to Asia, these are the most popular sports at the moment.

  1. American Football – NFL
  2. Baseball – MLB
  3. Ice Hockey – NHL
  4. Basketball – NBA
  5. Soccer – MLS
  1. American Football – NFL
  2. Basketball – NBA
  3. Baseball – MLB
  4. Boxing 
  5. Ice Hockey
  1. Ice Hockey – NHL
  2. Lacrosse
  3. Soccer
  4. Baseball
  5. Cricket
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  1. Football/Soccer
  2. Boxing
  3. Baseball
  4. Mexican Wrestling – Lucha Libre
  5. Bullfighting 
  1. Basketball
  2. Cricket
  3. Football/Soccer
  4. Baseball
  5. Table Tennis – Badminton
  1. Baseball
  2. Sumo Wrestling
  3. Football/Soccer
  4. Tennis
  5. Golf
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  1. Basketball – NBA
  2. Football/Soccer
  3. Table Tennis
  4. Badminton
  5. eSports
  1. Baseball
  2. Football/Soccer
  3. Basketball
  4. eSports
  5. Volleyball
  1. Football/Soccer
  2. Basketball
  3. Tennis
  4. Water Polo
  5. Volleyball
  1. Football/Soccer
  2. Rugby
  3. Tennis
  4. Formula 1 
  5. Boxing

Final Thoughts

Judging by our research, it is without a doubt that the most popular sport in the world is football/soccer. However, there are certain sports that completely took us by surprise, such as the fact that baseball is the most popular sport in South Korea, for example. Or that golf is one of the favourite sports for the citizens of Japan.

We hope that you enjoyed this journey around the world and that you learned something new about what countries love which sports the most. Given that the popularity of sports fluctuates and depends on the trends, we will certainly get back to this topic in the near future and see whether there are going to be changes in the rankings.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the most popular sport in the world?

With more than 3.5 billion fans around the world, the most popular sport in the world is football/soccer.

No 1 sport in world?

With 3.5 billion fans and more than 240 million registered players, football/soccer is the number 1 sport in the world.

Sports popularity rankings?

The five most popular sports in the world by ranking are:

  1. Football: 3.5 billion fans
  2. Cricket: 2.5 billion fans
  3. Hockey: 2 billion fans
  4. Tennis: 1 billion fans
  5. Volleyball: 900 million fans
Is NFL Popular?

NFL is the most popular sport in the USA, and has more than 100 million fans around the world as well.

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