Sports are an integral part of the lives of almost every human being in this planet. We have been surrounded by some kind of sports someway ever since our childhood. Moreover, it has been a dream for most people around the world to end up as a successful sports person in their favourite fields at least once in their life time. Certainly not everyone is or has been able to make it professionally but fans of sports are a huge mass in every corner of the globe. In today’s world each and every person follows one sport or the other with utmost passion and emotional connect. In this article, let us take a look at the Top 10 Most Popular Sports In The World.
#10. Golf:
On a lighter note, we tend to see mostly rich people digging about this sport known as Golf . Thi ssport is played by players using a golf club and hitting the ball with as lesser number of strokes as possible into a series of holes amidst a golf course.
The game of golf involves a lot of fans around USA, Canada and Europe and is certainly well in the list of Top 10 Most Popular Sports In The World.
#9. American Football/ Rugby:
A rectangular field of 120 yards length and 53.3 yards width hosts a game of American Football that is played by two teams of eleven players each. The agenda of this game is for the offensive team to advance the football (an oval shaped ball) all the way down the field by running with it or passing it. They are supposed to advance a least number of ten yards within four downs to receive a new set of four downs in order to continue the drive. Failing this leads them to turn the ball to the opposing team.
This sport roughly has a fan base of around 390-410 miliion fans mainly in the United States of America.
#8. Baseball:
Two teams of nine players play the game of Baseball. Both the teams take turns one after the other to bat and field. The offensive team strives to score more runs than their opponent. This is done by hitting the ball thrown by the pitcher with the bat and running counter-clockwise around four bases namely, first, second, third and home base. A run is said to be scored when the runner returns to the home plate after advancing around the bases.
A huge number of fans hurl up for Baseball in the United States, Cuba, Canada and most parts of the world. An estimated number of around 500 million fans is enjoyed by the game.
#7. Table Tennis:
Ping-pong or as it is widely known, Table Tennis is another addition in the list of the Top 10 Most Popular Sports In The World. This sport is played by single players one on one or a team of two players on each side or doubles in other words. The game moves on with players on either sides hitting a lightweight ping pong ball back and forth with the help of table tennis rackets or bats.
A hard table is what is used to play Table Tennis on and the table is separated by a net in the middle. The serve is done with the intention of making the ball bounce on either sides of the table. Following that, the rest of the game flows along by the ball bouncing just once on the side of each player or team. The contestant or sontestants with the highest points win the game.
#6. Volleyball:
The sport of Volleyball boasts a considerable estimation of around 900 million fans across the globe. The game is set in a way that two teams of six players are separated by a net and it is played with the use of a ball. The agenda of the game is for each team to hit the ball with hands to make it travel across the net and ground on the opponent’s side of the field or court.
The playing method has organized rules for players to follow and Volleyball happens to be a hot sport during the time of each Summer Olympics.
#5. Tennis:
Tennis or Lawn Tennins in other terms, is a very popular sport across the world. The plays happen in two ways: One against one (singles) and or two against two (doubles). The game is played with a hollow rubber ball which is hit with a racket that is strung with a chord. The ball is hit to travel all the way over the middle net to the opponent’s side of the court. The primary agenda of the game is for a player to hit the ball in such a way that it reaches the other part of the court but the opponent misses the shot.
The game takes place in three types of courts namely grass, clay and hard. It is divided in sets and the player with the highest points bags tthe win. Tennis is extremely well followed around the globe by over an estimation of 1 billion followers. No wonder it keeps its place in the list of the Top 10 Most Popular Sports In The World.
#4. Hockey:
A sporting discipline with two sub-disciplines under its head, Hockey boasts an estimated number of 2.2 billion fans. The two other segregations are field hockey and ice hockey. The former happens to be the national sport of both India and Pakistan. Ice hockey is extremely popularised in Canada, USA, around Europe specially Sweden, Lativa.
The game takes place in a rectangular field where two teams of eleven players each try to maneuver a puck or a ball into the opponent’s goal post with the use of a hockey stick.
Both the disciplines of Hockey are important events during the Olympics and the game has never ceased to be popular.
#3. Basketball:
A very popular game in the United States and gradually growing in popularity around the world is none but the game of Basketball. There are die heard fans of the game all around the globe who never miss a single match or event of the NBA
Basketball is a game that is played in an indoor rectangular court. On either ends of the court, there stands two hoops attached to a post. Two teams of five players each compete in a basketball match and the team with the highest number of baskets bags the win.
The entire world is surrounded by masses of basketball fans and moreover there is an estimation of around three billion fans across USA, Canada, China and Philippines.
#2. Cricket:
Cricket is a game whose inception caused in England. Popularly referred to as the “gentlemans’s game”, Cricket happens to be a game involving bat and ball. It is played in a field at the center of which there happens to be a pitch of twenty two yards length. Two teams, each comprising of eleven players play matches against each other.
The teams take turn to bat and score as many runs as they can. While on team bats, the other team is supposed to field and try to dismiss as many batsmen as possible of the opponent team by taking their wickets. The team with the highest runs at the end of the game grabs the victory.
The game of cricket is reported to have the second highest number of estiimated fans that sum up to around 2.5 to 3 billion. The official governing body of cricket, ICC has introduced a third format of the game called twenty-twenty. This new format on top of Test Series and One Day International Series has earned a drastic increase in the number of fans.
It is no surprise that cricket has made its way into the list of the Top 10 Most Popular Sports In The World.
#1. Soccer/Football:
Soccer is a game that is played in a field of rectangular shape that comprises of two netted goal posts at the either ends of the field. It is played between two teams consisting of eleven players each and each team has a goalkeeper in order to defend the goal post.
The primary agenda of the game is for either teams’ players to put the ball inside their opponent’s goal post with the use of any part of the body. The restricted parts of the body are the hands. The goalkeepers are the only players in the field allowed to touch the ball with their hands.
The game goes on for a standad duration of ninety minutes and the halting times due to injury or fines, are made up as extra time after the standard duration is over. The team scoring the highest number of goals bags the victory.
One of the historic games of the world, soccer or football (whatever one calls it) receives a viewership of around 3.5 billion people or fans from all corners of the globe. That is almost half the entire world’s population! No wonder, Football is a sport that leads the chart of the Top 10 Most Popular Sports In The World.
The global governing body of the sport FIFA, has took up Football to a level that it falls under the category of one of the richest sports in the world as well.
