25 World’s Most Popular Sports (Ranked by 13 factors)
Sports journalists have been facing this conundrum of ranking sports for some time now. Every now and then we see contradictory rankings of most popular sports alleviating whatever confidence we had in those reports. For ranking any sport’s popularity it is imperative that we set the criteria for ranking first. If TV viewership of any sports is the criteria then Beijing Olympics 2008 was by far the most watched sporting event with over 1 Billion people tuning in at some point during the Olympics event. For us TV viewership isn’t the only criteria for a sports popularity rather it should be the number of other factors combined to get the best popularity ranking.
Criteria used
- Global base & audience
- TV Viewership numbers
- Number Professional leagues around the world
- TV rights deals
- Endorsement & Sponsorship deals
- Average athlete salary in top league
- Biggest competition & (number of countries represented)
- Social media presence
- Prominence in sports headlines on media outlets (websites, tv)
- Relevancy through the year
- Regional dominance
- Gender equality
- Accessible to general public worldwide
#1. Football/Soccer
With over 4 billion followers of football, it is by far the most popular sport in the world. Considering all of our criteria factors football top most of them we have discussed major factors which makes football’s popularity unmatched.
Football’s dominance over the globe is so obvious that it really shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone to see football’s name at the top of the list. The Beautiful Game, as they call it, has fans in as east as Japan and as West as America but nowhere on earth is this game more popular than in Europe. For most European nations, it’s not just a game rather it’s a way of life. FIFA World Cup is the most iconic event of this sport which is not only the most watched team event but also one of the highest paying competitions in the whole sports world.
Football is one of the most accessible sport in the world and there is hardly anyone in this world who has not kick a ball at some point in their life. Football dominate sports headlines in some of the major countries in the world including almost all European nations like United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain etc. In South America football is more than just a game, it represent dreams and joy for kids in Brazil, Argentina and other latin countries. Lets take a look at some of the statistics which will put every argument to rest that Football is the biggest and most popular sport in the world.
Most watched competition in the world: Football World Cup is by far the most watched sports competition in the world. 3.9 billion people tune in at some point during the FIFA World Cup 2014 making it by far the biggest sport competition. While the final of 2014 world cup was watched by as many 700 million people all around the globe.
Highest paying sports competitions: $1.5 Billion is awarded in prize money and bonuses every year in UEFA Champions league, which is the european elite club competition where clubs from 54 countries participate. in fact four of the top 5 competitions with highest prize money are football events (Champions League, FIFA World Cup, Europa League, UEFA Euro)
Most expensive sports TV rights deal: English Premier League (English top football division) is the most watched professional sport league in the world. it broadcast in 212 territories across the world with over 5 billion viewer tuning in to live action at some point every season. SkySports and BT Sports paid over £5.3 billion to get premier league rights in the UK for three years while another £3 billion will be generated from international rights.
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