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How popular is basketball worldwide
How popular is basketball worldwide
Most Popular Sport by Country 2022
The appeal of sports is effectively universal across all of the world's countries, regardless of whether those countries are the world's richest or poorest, whether their citizens prefer coffee or beer, and whether they are located in the Arctic or the Caribbean. While many modern sports are relatively recent inventions—for example, basketball and auto racing were both conceived in the 1890s, barely a hundred years ago—others, such as archery, wrestling, and gymnastics, have been played for millennia.
Football/Soccer
While it may not be apparent in the United States, association football—also known as soccer—is the most popular sport in the world by a vast margin. Soccer is king in virtually all of Europe, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Central America, and Asia. The sport has roughly 3.5 billion fans worldwide and 250 million players across 200 countries around the world. The next most popular sports in the world are cricket (2.![]()
5 billion fans), basketball (2.2 billion fans), and field hockey (2 billion).
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is the administrative body for association football, futsal, and beach soccer in Europe and consists of 55 national association members. UEFA is one of the six continental confederations of world football’s governing body, FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association or International Federation of Association Football). UEFA represents the national associations of Europe and runs national and club competitions such as the EUFA European Champions, UEGA Champions League, UEFA Nations League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Super Cup.
Only a few European countries favor a sport other than football/soccer. In Austria and Estonia, the most popular sport is skiing. In Latvia and Lithuania, basketball is king, while ice hockey is the most popular in Finland. In Ireland, Gaelic football is the most popular sport. Everywhere else, it is association football.
Similarly, association football is also the most popular sport in all but a few Asian countries. The few exceptions include table tennis being king in China, archery in Bhutan, kickboxing in Laos and Cambodia, and basketball in the Philippines. The most popular sport in Mongolia is wrestling and the most popular sport in the Indian subcontinent (India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh) is cricket.
Moving on to Oceania, association football is the most popular sport in Indonesia and Fiji, while rugby is the most popular in Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and some other Polynesia island nations. Australians tend to favor Australian rules football or cricket.
Association football/soccer again takes the top spot in Mexico, where men’s association football has been played professionally since the early 1900s and the Mexican Federation of Soccer was founded in 1927. Mexico’s national football team first played in the World Cup in 1930 and has participated in 16 World Cups.
The first women’s professional football league in Mexico was announced in December 2016 and played its inaugural season the following year. The Mexico national football team plays its home games at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Although association football is again the favorite throughout most of Central and South America, the citizens of Panama, Nicaragua, and Venezuela prefer baseball. Cricket is the most popular sport in Guyana, likely a reflection of the country's history as a British colony, which also led to it becoming the only one of the world's native English-speaking countries located in South America.
Cricket
The formerly British-controlled countries of India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh also count cricket as their favorite sport. Cricket is one of the few aspects of Indian life that unites the whole country. The first recorded cricket match in India took place in 1721, and India became the sixth member of the "elite club" alongside England, Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, and New Zealand in 1932.
India’s inaugural match against England attracted 24,000 people. India recorded its first victory in 1952, the same year that Pakistan joined the club. Two years later, Pakistan had its first victory against England. Since then, cricket has been beloved by those on the Indian subcontinent, with India and Pakistan as the leading cricket rivals in the region. The Indian-Pakistan rivalry creates some of the most anticipated matches and the most-watched television broadcasts in India.
American (NFL) Football
In the United States, the most popular sport is American football. Football is one of the most-watched sports in the U.S. and has about 390 million to 410 million fans worldwide, the majority of which are in the United States. American football’s leading league is the National Football League (NFL), consisting of 32 teams divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC).
The NFL's regular season is 17 weeks long, during which each team plays 16 games and has one off, or "bye" week.
As in most sports, the regular season is followed by end-of-the-season playoffs. The NFL's ultimate championship game, the Super Bowl, is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world. The winner receives the coveted Lombardi trophy, which is named after seminal coach Vince Lombardi, whose Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls.
While the NFL is easily the most successful American football league in the U.S., it has had plenty of competition. The following is a non-exhaustive list of alternate leagues that have existed over the decades.
- The AFC conference was originally a rival league, the American Football League, that merged with the NFL in 1970.
- The United States Football League (USFL) played three seasons, from 1983 to 1985.
- The World Football League existed from 1974-1975 and again from 2008-2011.
- In 1991, the similarly named World League of American Football attempted to bring American football to the wider world by debuting teams in Barcelona, Spain; Frankfurt, Germany; and London, England.
It was rebranded as NFL Europe in 1998, but shut down in 2007. - The Arena Football League, which played on a shortened field and had a faster pace, operated from 1987 to 2019.
- The XFL was a short-lived league founded by World Wrestling Entertainment executive Vince McMahon, which operated in 2001 and again in 2020 before its season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. McMahon then sold the XFL to a group that included former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. As of mid-2022, the XFL is planning to relaunch in February 2023.
Ice Hockey
Canada’s most popular sport is ice hockey, which originated in Montreal and is the official winter sport of Canada. The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) was formed in 1975 and represents the three Canada-based major junior hockey leagues. The three member leagues are the Western Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League, and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. There are 60 teams total, 52 of which represent nine Canadian provinces and eight of which represent four American states.
The Memorial Cup is the CHL’s top award for the championship team.
Canadian hockey teams also participate in the National Hockey League (NHL), the U.S. hockey league, in an annual effort to win the prized Stanley Cup. Canadian NHL teams are the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Vancouver Canucks.
Baseball
The most popular sport in Japan is baseball. American Horace Wilson first introduced baseball to Japan in 1872, and the first professional competitions emerged in the 1920s. The first Japanese professional league formed in 1936 and grew large enough to divide into two leagues by 1950: the Central League and the Pacific League. The professional league is known as Nippon Professional Baseball for Puro Yakyū (“professional baseball”).
Baseball in Japan is slightly different from Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States: the ball, strike zone, and playing field are all smaller; game lengths are limited; and ties are allowed.
High school baseball is also extremely popular in Japan. More than 50,000 people watch the national High School Baseball Championship in person at Koshien Stadium, and millions more watch it on television.
Australian rules football
The most popular sport in Australia is Australian rules football. Australian football is a contact sport played by two teams, each with 18 players. The game is played on an oval-shaped field with an oval-shaped ball to kick the ball between two goalposts. The Australian Football League (AFL) is the sport’s only fully professional competition and is Australia’s wealthiest sporting body. The AFL Grand Final has the highest attendance of any club championship in the world.
Basketball Popularity
Basketball is a very popular sport played all around the world, though it is more popular in certain countries particularly the US where it was invented. Here we use online search traffic for the term 'Basketball' to analyze which countries it is more popular.
See also the lists of popular sports in many countries.
Basketball is most popular, based on online searches for that term, in the USA. By the large list below it is clear how well the sport of basketball has spread from where it was invented to around the world.
| ranking | Country | Regional Popularity * |
|---|
| 1 | United States | 100 |
| 2 | Philippines | 71 |
| 3 | Australia | 42 |
| 4 | Canada | 41 |
| 5 | Iraq | 32 |
| 6 | Mongolia | 29 |
| 7 | Lebanon | 26 |
| 8 | Lithuania | 23 |
| 9 | Macedonia | 22 |
| 10 | New Zealand | 20 |
| 11 | Puerto Rico | 20 |
| 12 | Afghanistan | 19 |
| 13 | Greece | 16 |
| 14 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 16 |
| 15 | Jamaica | 16 |
| 16 | Singapore | 15 |
| 17 | Fiji | 15 |
| 18 | Germany | 15 |
| 19 | Ghana | 15 |
| 20 | Estonia | 14 |
| 21 | Ireland | 13 |
| 22 | Zimbabwe | 13 |
| 23 | Uganda | 13 |
| 24 | Cameroon | 13 |
| 25 | Dominican Republic | 13 |
| 26 | Slovenia | 12 |
| 27 | Botswana | 12 |
| 28 | Georgia | 12 |
| 29 | Croatia | 12 |
| 30 | Trinidad and Tobago | 12 |
| 31 | Ethiopia | 11 |
| 32 | Nepal | 11 |
| 33 | Uruguay | 11 |
| 34 | Latvia | 10 |
| 35 | Hong Kong | 10 |
| 36 | United Kingdom | 10 |
| 37 | Nigeria | 10 |
| 38 | Tanzania | 10 |
| 39 | Kenya | 10 |
| 40 | Senegal | 9 |
| 41 | Albania | 9 |
| 42 | United Arab Emirates | 8 |
| 43 | Costa Rica | 8 |
| 44 | Honduras | 8 |
| 45 | Malaysia | 8 |
| 46 | Cote d'Ivoire | 8 |
| 47 | Myanmar | 7 |
| 48 | Sri Lanka | 7 |
| 49 | Austria | 7 |
| 50 | Nicaragua | 7 |
| 51 | Mauritius | 7 |
| 52 | Panama | 7 |
| 53 | Israel | 6 |
| 54 | Indonesia | 6 |
| 55 | Switzerland | 6 |
| 56 | South Korea | 6 |
| 57 | Denmark | 6 |
| 58 | Kuwait | 6 |
| 59 | El Salvador | 6 |
| 60 | Jordan | 6 |
| 61 | Norway | 6 |
| 62 | Bulgaria | 6 |
| 63 | Guatemala | 6 |
| 64 | Ecuador | 5 |
| 65 | Mexico | 5 |
| 66 | India | 5 |
| 67 | Chile | 5 |
| 68 | Czechia | 5 |
| 69 | Netherlands | 5 |
| 70 | Thailand | 5 |
| 71 | Belgium | 4 |
| 72 | Morocco | 4 |
| 73 | South Africa | 4 |
| 74 | Tunisia | 4 |
| 75 | Moldova | 4 |
| 76 | Syria | 4 |
| 77 | Slovakia | 4 |
| 78 | Bangladesh | 4 |
| 79 | Hungary | 4 |
| 80 | Oman | 4 |
| 81 | Portugal | 4 |
| 82 | Azerbaijan | 4 |
| 83 | Iran | 4 |
| 84 | Paraguay | 3 |
| 85 | Pakistan | 3 |
| 86 | Venezuela | 3 |
| 87 | Bolivia | 3 |
| 88 | Colombia | 3 |
| 89 | Peru | 3 |
| 90 | Sweden | 3 |
| 91 | France | 3 |
| 92 | Spain | 3 |
| 93 | Poland | 3 |
| 94 | Finland | 3 |
| 95 | Taiwan | 3 |
| 96 | Algeria | 3 |
| 97 | Romania | 3 |
| 98 | Türkiye | 3 |
| 99 | Saudi Arabia | 3 |
| 100 | Egypt | 2 |
| 101 | Palestinian Territory | 2 |
| 102 | Argentina | 2 |
| 103 | Italy | 2 |
| 104 | Belarus | 2 |
| 105 | Russian Federation | 2 |
| 106 | Viet Nam | 2 |
| 107 | Ukraine | 1 |
| 108 | Japan | 1 |
| 109 | China | 1 |
| 110 | Brazil | 1 |
* Regional Popularity is a relative term (proportional to the most popular term and related to the popularity of other terms in each region), and does not represent an actual number of searches.
Source
- This list is derived from Google Insights for Search, collected over a four year period (Jan 2007 to Jan 2011).
Related Pages
- most popular sports in many countries
- other top 10 lists of the world's most popular sports
- Other world sport lists
Old Comments
Commenting is closed on this page, though you can read some previous comments below which may answer some of your questions.
- Homas Chahri (2015)
What that means? How is it done? Do you pretend basketball is more popular in Irak than in Lithuania, Serbia not in this top, France #91whereas UK is #36, Spain #92...is it really a study? it looks like random numbers! - Rob Admin Thomas Chahri (2015)
It's not random numbers, though not easy to comprehend. Google provides this data based on searches on this topic around the world. The numbers represent the popularity of basketball searches relative to searches for other terms in each country.
- Thomas Chahri Rob (2016)
The results seems very far from the reality of basketball country. I think too that methodology is wrong. Iraq , Mongolia, Afghanistan on the top??? It would be better to look at number of people playing basketball, in how many people go to see games, see NBA on tv or in NBA league pass. Obviously you didn't rank with the right elements, you have non-basketball countries in the top 20, whereas countries in which basketball is one of the 5 major sports ranked 100 and more (Brazil-Italy-Russia-China).How many people did attend the Brazil Basketball Div 1? And how many in Mongolia? In Botswana same popularity than in Croatia? Something goes very wrong. For me you looked for terms not used in each language, it provides a fully non-sense - Del (2014)
canada ? he just drew up the rules and allowed dribling, try England and look up "netball" a girls game - Vincent Bianchi (2020)
Basketball is more popular in the philippines than the us.
..the us has 5 popular sports - football soccer basketball baseball hockey. The philippines has only one... - ADI (2019)
Isn't Basketball a Canadian sport?? - Disqus_FZcsNmwhLX aDI (2019)
The creator of basketball was born in Canada, but he became an American citizen and created basketball in America. Basketball originated in America. - Alex (2015)
what do the numbers in regional popularity mean - Rob Admin alex (2015)
I know it sounds a bit confusing. The regional popularity value is calculated based on how it relates to the most popular term and also to other terms in the region. - Chenay kelly (2015)
which country plays basketball the most???? - Bieber (2013)
is that all of the countries? - Loool bieber (2019)
No this world has a whole lot more than that - Mysterygirl (2013)
how are we suposed to count all these - Bigbouch (2014)
basket ball was created in Canada - Hugh G. Rection bigbouch (2014)
James Naismith invented the game in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the Basketball Hall of Fame is located.
Last time I checked, MA isn't in Canada. - MrHolmes bigbouch (2015)
It was created in the US, but by a Canadian. James Naismith was born and grew up mostly in Ontario, Canada.
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Why is basketball so popular in the USA? | Physical Education and Sports
At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the US team won 65 medals (19 gold, 21 silver and 25 bronze). And at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010, the Americans pleased their people with brilliant performances, earning 37 medals (9 gold, 15 silver, 13 bronze). These victories are not accidental.
For most Americans, it is thanks to sports that the initial idea of life and the world is formed. After all, in sports such important values of American society as equality of chances for success, achievement of success, the desire to be the first, competition, a healthy lifestyle, etc.
are most clearly manifested in sports. and opportunities, as well as the ability to use them .
Most Americans are actively involved in sports also because they have long understood that maintaining health is much cheaper than restoring it. Constant and strict care of one's health has become an integral part of the American way of life, so sports grounds and swimming pools have firmly entered the local life. Love for sports, and especially for team sports, is instilled from an early age, especially great attention is paid to sports in schools.
Do you remember the 1991 comedy film Father of the Bride? On the eve of the wedding, late in the evening, father and daughter enthusiastically play basketball in their yard. When I first watched this movie many years ago, I was very surprised by this episode.
But after living here long enough, I stopped being surprised by the craze for basketball. Although, according to official polls, the most popular sport in the United States remains American football (very similar to rugby, but with slightly different rules), which was named as a favorite by 30% of the country's residents, Basketball , along with baseball, is one of the three most popular and developed sports . A frame from the film Father of the Bride, 1991.
Photo: kinopoisk.ru
The popularity of basketball can be explained by a number of reasons.
- This game is characterized by a variety of movements: walking, running, stopping, turning, jumping, catching, throwing and dribbling, which improves metabolism, the activity of all body systems, and forms coordination.
- Basketball is less traumatic than American football or baseball.
- You can play basketball both indoors and outdoors, it does not require particularly complex equipment, expensive uniforms, that is, it is more accessible to all segments of the population.
Basketball poles with a basket on our street are almost every second house
Photo: Gertrud Rybakova, personal archive
In Houston, in residential areas with individual buildings, almost every second house, especially if children grow up there, has a basketball pole with a basket in the front yard, in front of the house, and in any free minute you can leave the ball, practice.
I often watch my neighbors where a father and a five-year-old boy play in the evenings and on weekends. The boy began his "training" at the age of two. At first the basket was lowered lower, now it is raised almost to its full height. It is surprising that the kid almost without misses throws the ball into the basket, even from a distance of 5-7 meters.
My seventeen-year-old grandson can talk about basketball for hours and is ready to jump with the ball in any free minute.
He knows all the great players in the NBA-NBA (National Basketball Association), and Michael Jordan (Michael Jeffrey Jordan) and Yao Ming (Yao Ming) are role models, especially since Yao Ming plays for the Houston Rockets.
And what's so surprising? After all, the United States is the birthplace of modern basketball. Although there is evidence that the Aztecs played a similar ball game in the 14th century. But the spread of this wonderful team game began in the United States at the end of the 19th century. A famous NBA basketball player's handprint compared to his grandson's. Orlando, 2008
Photo: Gertrude Rybakova, personal file
In 1891, at the Christian Youth Association Training Center in Springfield, Massachusetts , a young teacher, Dr. James Naismith, originally from Canada, came up with a new game to revive gymnastics lessons.
He attached two fruit baskets without a bottom to the railing of the balcony, into which a soccer ball was to be thrown. He developed the first 13 rules a year later.
Already in December 1891, the first official basketball competition was held at the school in Springfield. There were 18 students in the group, two teams of 9 participatedhuman. The very first matches under these rules caused them to change. Shields appear (protection of the basket), because the fans on the balconies caught flying balls and threw them into the opponent's basket. In 1893, iron rings with a grid appeared. The game turned out to be so interesting and dynamic that in 1894 the first official rules were published in the USA.
Basketball quickly spread to other countries: first to the East - to Japan, China, the Philippines, and then to Europe and South America.
Ten years later, at the Olympic Games in St. Louis, America, the Americans organized an exhibition tournament between teams from several cities.
In 1932, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) was created, and in 1935 the International Olympic Committee decided to recognize basketball as an Olympic sport.
FIBA headquarters, Switzerland
Photo: Christophe Badoux, ru.wikipedia.org
Basketball was added to the program at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin . The game's guest of honor was James Naismith, the creator of this game. Teams from 21 countries participated in the basketball tournament. Matches were played on open tennis courts. During this Olympiad, the first FIBA Congress took place, where the existing and adopted unified international rules of the game were considered.
Basketball is currently the fastest growing sport in the world. One of the reasons for this growing popularity is the activity of of the National Basketball Association (NBA) , which shows the most talented and popular basketball players performing their amazing sports feats on a high-profile stage.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the world's premier basketball league. Founded in 1946, the NBA has a rich and storied history, and over the past decades it has become more popular around the world than any other American sports league. Now the NBA includes 30 teams from the cities of the USA and Canada, which are geographically divided into the Western and Eastern conferences, each of the conferences is divided into three divisions of 5 teams. Photo: Depositphotos
NBA games are constantly televised both in the US and around the world, attracting a very large number of fans to television screens.
And the US men's national basketball team is the most titled team in world men's basketball, winning medals at all the Olympic Games in which it participated, including becoming an Olympic champion 15 times.
Tags: basketball, olympic Sports, team game, popular sport, healthy lifestyle, americans, play basketball, USA, ball games
Nikolays Mazurs about 3x3 basketball
If we compare 3x3 basketball. In your opinion, how is it developing in Latvia and how is it in Russia?
I can’t say how much 3x3 is developing in Russia, but I can give an example of successful players: Maxim Dybovsky from Parma was in the National Team, Kirill Pisklov, whom I know from the days of Dynamo, was also in the National Team.
As for the Latvian players, of course, I know many, because we met with them personally: with someone in games, we managed to train someone in the youth teams, we played against someone.
I can say that the 3x3 movement has great prospects, there are leaders who are involved in this, and a lot depends on these people who lead young guys, motivate, create conditions for teams to compete at the World Championships, to fully train and had a high motivation to get to the Olympic Games.
Can a classic basketball player become successful in 3x3? Or does it require special training?
As a rule, a 3v3 player is a versatile player who knows how to beat one on one, knows how to fight physically, defend against different players both under the basket and on the perimeter. The dynamics of the game is very large, since there are no stops after each goal scored, so it is quite difficult for slow players there. The game is very fast, requiring all players to be able to shoot, dribble, rebound and be versatile.
