Most Popular Sports

Sport has the ability to bring people all over the world together but just which sports are the most popular the whole world over? We decided to put a list together of our top seven.

Football – the beautiful game is as booming as it ever has been and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was a fantastic showcase of that. 3,429,873 was the total attendance for the 64 matches while FIFA reported that their global stadium – a social, online and mobile hub for the tournament – exceeded 1 billion users, an amazing feat indeed. Football has long been a popular game, a game enjoyed by the working man and with the World Cup’s popularity and some excellent players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi is shows no sign of changing any time soon.

Rugby Union – sometimes people view rugby as the poorer brother of football, as both sports were founded in England and are similar in a number of ways but they’re also vastly different too and that appeals to many. Rugby players show great restraint when accepting refereeing decisions, while it is a game lauded for its physicality and intensity unlike football – lauded for skill and the global broadness of the game. The recent rugby World Cup in England has been one of the best-attended tournaments ever – passing the 2 million mark – while many more fans have tuned in worldwide on television.

Tennis – this sport has been full of greats down the years and in Novak Djokovic, tennis has yet another bonafide star and it’s easy to see why Coral have him as favourite for the upcoming Australian Open. The Serbian has been untouchable in recent years, winning countless Grand Slams and destroying opponents, while also being able to have some fun at the same time. It’s no wonder the latest Grand Slam final, the US Open, was heralded by ESPN for the viewing figures they received.

Golf – the likes of Tiger Woods really helped increase this sport’s popularity in the late 90s and through the 00s. The game is one of extreme precision, with the world’s best players travelling over different continents competing on some of the finest golf courses around. Such tournaments including the US Masters and the British Open are known the world over by both hardcore sports fans and casual sports fans, with the recent attendances at the Masters showing the sport’s popularity is as big as ever.

American Football – with a tv viewing figure of 111.5million for the 2014 Superbowl between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks, the NFL leads the way when it comes to popularity of US sports. The sport is hugely popular both in America and beyond, with franchises such as the Green Bay Packers and the New England Patriots having their merchandise sold all over the world.

Baseball – baseball is the next big-hitter in America, when compared to American Football and the fanbase is just as wide with famous teams like the New York Yankees and St.Louis Cardinals competing for the opportunity to play in the World Series each season. Big contracts for the best players is also commonplace in baseball now and with the history the sport has, with stars including Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra, it’s easy to see why the popularity has only increased.

Basketball – the NBA is huge and a worldwide phenomenon, exported by America and now featuring not only American players but the cream of the crop from Europe and beyond. The likes of Drazen Petrovic helped cultivate the European influx in the 1980s but America stars Shaquille O’Neil and LeBron James blasted the sport into the 00s and these days the NBA is still a hugely popular game, both in the United States and beyond, with merchandise from the LA Lakers and Chicago Bulls selling all over the world.