Sports are played all around the world whether as hobbies or as careers. Sports play a vital role in our lives. Since our childhood, we played different types of sports to entertain us. But many people make a career in sports. They gain popularity and money from these sports. There are many sports in the world. But only some of them are the most popular and most loved in the world. We have made a list of the top 10 most popular sports in the World.

Golf

Player doing Golf swing

Golf is a precision club and ball sport that is played between different players using many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course using the fewest number of strokes. Golf is more popular in elderly people as compared to young people. Golf’s popularity is limited on the internet and there are a limited number of searches related to golf. It has a very limited presence on social media because social media is mostly dominated by the younger generation.

There are several biggest competitions of the Golf such as the Master’s Tournament, The US Open, The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship. It is one of the most popular sports in the world and there are 118 countries in the International Golf Federation. Golf has a fan base of more than 390 million fans which is enough to place it in 10th position in the top 10 most popular sports in the world list.

Rugby

Young and strong rugby team on the field, rough group training.

Rugby is a widely played sport in France and it has a strong tradition in the people of Basque, Occitan, and Catalan areas. Rugby is mainly popular and has a strong fan base in Australia, England, France, and New Zealand.  Rugby is also moderately popular on the Internet and enjoys a limited presence on social media. Many developed countries have professional Rugby Leagues. This league’s popularity is quite varying.

Rugby World Cup is one of the biggest tournaments of Rugby which is held every 4 years in which 20 different countries from Rugby playing nations participate in it. Rugby is also considered as one of the most male-dominated sports at both the professional as well as at the amateur level. With around 400 million fans all around the world, Rugby is the 9th most popular sports in the world.

Baseball

A male baseball Player

Baseball is a bat and ball sport that is played between two teams having nine players in each team who take turns batting and fielding. In baseball, teams can score runs by hitting a ball thrown by the pitcher with a bat and move in counter-clockwise around a series of four bases. Baseball has a huge number of fans in Canada, the USA, Cuba, and many other countries. This sport is widely watched in the US, Cuba, Canada, and Japan.

Baseball World Cup and World Baseball Classic are the biggest competition of this sport where all the major countries that play baseball participate. When it comes to gender equality, there is no equality between males and females because it is one of the most male-dominated sports. It is also sponsored by top brands such as MasterCard, Chevrolet, etc which pays lots of money to these baseball teams. It is the 8th most popular sports in the world with more than 500 million fans globally.

Table Tennis

Young woman playing table tennis with her colleague

Table Tennis which is also known as ping pong is a sport in which 2 or 4 players hit a table tennis ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. Table Tennis fans are scattered around the world. It has a strong fan base of around 900 million fans with millions of hobbyists, amateur players and professional players all around the world. It is also played in the Olympics Games.

The biggest event of Table Tennis in the world is the World Table Tennis Championship which is held every two years and top players of the game from all around the world participate in the event. Table tennis has excellent gender equality. Both the men and women table tennis attracts media attention. It is basically popular in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas and it ranks in the 7th position in the list of top 10 most popular sports in the world.

Volleyball

Young women playing volleyball.

Volleyball is a sport that is played between two teams of 6 players which are separated by a net. In this sport, each team will get a point if they ground a ball on the other team’s court under the organized rules. Volleyball has a reasonable number of fans with around 900 million fans in almost all the countries of the world. Since 1964, Volleyball has been a part of the Summer Olympic Games.

Volleyball is a sport that receives a great deal of attention on social media. The popularity of Volleyball is among both genders and it is one of the fastest emerging sports in the modern age. The biggest competition of Volleyball is the FIVB Volleyball Championship in which 24 countries of the world participate in it and it is held every 4 years. Both the men and women volleyball get lots of attention nowadays. So, it is the 6th most popular sports in the world on the list.

Tennis

Tennis players playing a match on the court on a sunny day

Tennis is a sport in which people usually play individually against a single opponent or even played between two teams of two players each. Tennis has a huge and pretty good fan base all around the world. Tennis superstars like Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are widely known all over the world and have millions of fans. The major competitions of Tennis are watched by more than 400 million people all over the world.

Tennis is an individual sport so there are no national teams for it. But there are national tennis federations which look after the tennis tournament in the country. There are many international tournaments held every year. Among them, Wimbledon, the US Open, the Green Open, and the Australian are the biggest tournaments of Tennis. Many brands like Rolex, Mercedes, Nike, Puma, and other brands sponsor superstars of tennis to promote their brand. It is in the 5th of the list of top 10 most popular sports in the world 2020.

Hockey

player with ball playing field hockey game

Hockey is a sport in which two teams play with each other by trying to maneuver a ball into the opponent’s goal with the help of the hockey stick. It has two versions including Ice and field hockey. Both ice hockey and field hockey is considered as one of the most popular sports in the world having almost 2 billion fans all around the world which especially follow the National Hockey League (NHL). Field hockey is also the national game of some countries such as Pakistan, India, etc.

Hockey is basically male-dominated sport but some countries also promote the participation of women and they also have a national women’s hockey team. Both the hockey also receive considerable attention from many popular brands such as Gatorade, Rebook, and others which are willing to sign sponsorship deals with these teams. Hockey ranks in the 4th position in the list of top 10 most popular sports in the world 2020.

Basketball

Basketball hoop net and ball side view

Basketball is one of the most playing sports which is played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court. The main aim is to shoot a ball through a hoop which is 10 feet high mounted to a backboard at each end. Basketball has a huge number of fans that ranges from 2 to 3 billion and most of them are from the US, Canada, Japan, and the Philippines.

The NBA of the US is the most popular league which is watched and followed by millions of fans all around the world. In 2016, the NBA sold the TV rights deal for $24 billion for 9 years which means $2.6 billion per year. Many popular brands also spend millions of dollars in endorsement deals with top basketball players. These deals can sometimes continue after the player’s retirement also. It is a very popular sport in America and one of the most talked sports. Baseball is the third most popular sports in the world.

Cricket

Cricket match Ashes

Cricket is another most popular sports in the world with great global reach and followed by more than 2.5 billion fans. Cricket has three different formats that are Test, ODI, and T20. The test is the longest format of cricket which is played in 5 days including 4 innings. ODI is the format which is played of 50 overs and T20 is the shortest format of this game that cricket fans find exciting and thrilling. The Cricket World Cup is the most followed competition in Cricket which was last played in 2019 and was watched by about 2.6 billion people from all over the world.

Cricket also has a good number of endorsement deals from various popular brands. The popularity of cricket has seen an increase over the years. Like all other sports, male cricket is more popular than the female version but the ICC has taken steps to make women cricket popular and many countries have also developed their women’s cricket teams. Due to its popularity and craze among people, it is in the 2nd position of the top 10 most popular sports in the world 2020 list.

Football

Football player

Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world which is also known as associative football and is widely followed and celebrated especially in Europe. It is estimated that football is played by 270 million players in over 200 countries and more than 3.8 billion people which is more than half of the world’s population consider themselves to be football fans.

In soccer, there are two teams of even players in each team and the objective of this sport is to drive a ball into the goalpost which is defended by the opponent. The FIFA World Cup which is the most prestigious and biggest competition in football was watched by a record number of 3.2 billion fans in 2018. Besides this, every major football tournament like UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, etc are also widely followed by football fans.

Not only male football receives a lot of media attention but female football also attracts media. Due to the wide media attention and popularity among fans, top brands such as Coca Cola, Qatar Airways, Pepsi, Nike, and many other brands have signed multi-million dollar contracts with football governing bodies such as FIFA, UEFA, top football clubs and even national teams. Due to the most popular sports in the world and contracts with top brands, football players are also considered as one of the highest-paid athletes in the world.