Top 10 Most Popular Sports in The World 2022: Based on where you live or where you're from though certain sports may be more popular than others as we know particular parts of the world take more pride in specific ones there have long been debates regarding which sport is truly the most popular in the world well it's time to settle this debate once and for all in order to accurately put together a list of ranking the 10 most popular sports 15 different factors had to be used these consisted of a combination of fan engagement stats money in the sport number and types of players and overall relevancy
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Number 10 golf with more than an estimated 390 million fans in the u.s Canada and Europe golf comes in at the number 10 while the sport has plenty of fans it does well with older generations and also wealthier people the sport struggles to reach people who do not have access to play it overall people tend to view it as a sport for the rich the top golfers around the world do pretty well financially though in terms of money made through events and sponsorships it's a sport that is similar to tennis and the fact that you see the top competitors covered head to toe in various brands.
Number 9 American football rugby American football and rugby come in at a tie with around 390 to 410 million fans estimated each while they have similar fan bases their popularity varies around the globe as i am sure you are aware football's popularity primarily comes from America there the top league is the NFL while the sport may not have as many fans as others mentioned there is plenty of money to go around in it the NFL sells its tv rights deals for billions of dollars a year and the average salary in the league is 1.9 million dollars while it does well in the us with viewership football is not consumed on a global scale that's where rugby comes in rugby is very popular in France England new Zealand and south Africa similar to football in the us the sport does well in terms of viewership and fans in these countries but not as well elsewhere one area that the sport really struggles in is the average salary of the athletes in the top leagues the average salary of a rugby player is only around 60 thousand dollars.
Number 8 baseball finds itself so low on this list due to its niche market which is us Canada Cuba the Dominican republic and Japan these areas do a good job of not only playing but watching the sport though it just doesn't have the international reach that the previous sports do just as the sport does well in terms of playing and viewership in those parts of the world the money does exist there as well the tv rights deals for the MLB and the Japanese league both exceed hundreds of millions of dollars in us MLB players do very well for themselves as the average salary is more than 4 million the league accounts for some of the highest paying contracts in all of the professional sports.
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Number 7 table tennis we mentioned earlier how Americans may be shocked by this list well here's another reason why a sport that most people from the u.s consider a garage hobby has an estimated 900 million fans worldwide an area where the sport excels is gender equality as it is played by just as many men as women around the world it also thrives in the access to the general public as a result table tennis has the highest number of amateur players in all sports around the globe however due to the popular nature of amateur play there really isn't much money in the sport through deals or contracts
Number 6 volleyball another sport that is consistent in its popularity around the globe is volleyball with around 900 million fans in almost all countries volleyball has a significant following additionally the sport thrives on its accessibility to the public as a result of this accessibility volleyball ranks second in all sports and a total number of amateur players behind only soccer or football one area the sport is lacking in though is money while the top athletes can make up to a couple million dollars most players are not making anywhere near close to that on top of that the tv rights and sponsorship deals are lagging far behind the other sports.
Number 5 tennis is a sport whose popularity is generally consistent around the world the sport has an estimated 1 billion fans and these fans stretch from the Americas to Europe to Asia these fans love tuning into the major tennis matches the sport is broken down into four major competitions called the grand slams and these events are watched by more than 400 million people where tennis really makes its mark on this list is an aspect you might not think of popularity on the internet it is viewed as the third most popular sport on the internet additionally a lot of the money in the sport comes through sponsorship deals you can find the top athletes decked out in brands from head to toe as they compete on the court.
Number 4 hockey field and ice hockey is another sport with over 2 billion fans around the globe when talking about the sport for the sake of this list we're including both field and ice hockey together by including both versions of the sport hockey have one of the best global fan bases and audiences of these sports in different parts of the world the popularity of the individual versions of the sport varies while us considers field hockey to be a sport primarily played by females that actually is not the case in Europe where males play it as well additionally ice hockey is primarily played by males an area of weakness for hockey stems from consistent cash flow the tv rights deals are nowhere near as large as the other major sports and the salary of players varies mightily depending on where they are located.
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Number 3 basketball something Americans truly care about finally makes an appearance on the list however over the years the sport of basketball has evolved into more of an international game with an estimated 2.2 billion fans while the game continues to try to grow its international presence it's still a sport that generally derives its popularity from us with the NBA not only does its popularity come from the NBA so does a majority of the money in 2016 the NBA agreed to a tv rights deal worth 24 billion dollars over nine years additionally the average salary for an NBA player is north of three million dollars the only reason that basketball is here on this list is the other basketball leagues around the world are not on the same level as the NBA the sport is lacking in premier leagues that bring in as much attention or money as the NBA does.
Number 2 cricket for people hailing from the western hemisphere this is the first of numerous rankings that may catch you a little off guard primarily played in asia australia and the uk cricket has no shortage of fans as the sport has an estimated 2.5 billion fans which is the second highest number of fans of all sports although qriket is only popular in around 15 to 20 countries these countries have a combined population of nearly 2 billion people as a result the sport does well in terms of viewership on tv and tv rights deals during the 2015 qriket world cup around 2.2 billion people were tuned in for the event for events like that one the global body for world cricket the icc grosses hundreds of millions of dollars for the tv rights deals while cricket isn't played or followed around the globe it excels greatly in areas of the world that lend the sport to being considered popular by so many people for cricket popularity is all about the quality of countries in terms of population counts over quantity of them referring to the total number of countries.
Number 1 soccer football when the nickname for a sport is widely accepted as the world sport it's most likely going to find itself at the top of this list soccer or football dominates nearly every single one of the criteria used for ranking with an estimated 3.5 billion fans worldwide the sport is far and above the most popular sport it's played and followed nearly all over the world as a result of so many people caring about the sport soccer or football brings them more money than other sports whether it's player contracts with FC Barcelona paying Lionel Messi 500 000 euros a week or tv deals where the sports governing body FIFA secured more than 1.85 billion dollars for the 2018 and 2022 world cups the money clearly follows the sport just as a plethora of fans do it also helps that its biggest competition includes countries from all over the globe in the FIFA world cup held every four years reportedly more than 3.2 billion people watched the last world cup in 2018
