This blog entry took a long time to compile….but was forced to write it….there are way too many misleading articles out there 😦 .
I had a simple question :’Which are the World’s Most Popular Sports?’…but the Net had way 2 many unbelievable answers !

Sample this :


Myth
Truth
The Football World Cup attracts 36 billion viewers. Umm…The world population is abt 6.7 Billion.(currently 6,706,993,152)
Basketball is the second most popular sport in the World. Sorry..but it doesnt figure in the Top 5….
F1 Racing has the highest viewership rating compared to every other sport in the World. Very Ambitious thought…

The problem is that the media lists the potential viewership rather than any actual figures…that explains the highly distorted figures out there…see this fantastic article abt it :
The Numbers Guy Report – Media Distortion of Viewership Numbers

Some points to be considered before reading ahead :

  • Its a modification of a Top Sports list I found which I tweaked to make it more accurate.
  • From the 6.5 Billion populace, 2.8B live below the poverty line. Also 250M are kids below the age of 2. That leaves us with 3.5B potential sports followers.
  • The USA has a population of only 300M.
  • China(1.3B) & India(1.2B) are the most populous nations in the world. Sports followed by them will naturally have a high standing.

 

  1. Football :

    2. Image Orig Src: Link
    Followers : Around 3 Billion Fans.
    Places : Most Places
  2. Cricket :
    3. Image Orig Src: Link
    Followers : Around 2 Billion Fans.
    Places : Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia
  3. Field Hockey :
    4. Image Orig Src: Link
    Followers : 1.5 Billion Fans.
    Places : Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia
  4. Tennis :
    5. Image Orig Src: Link
    Followers : Around 1 Billion Fans.
    Places : Europe, Americas, Asia
  5. Volleyball :
    6. Image Orig Src: Link
    Followers : Around 900 Million Fans.
    Places : Asia, Erope, Americas, Australia
  6. Table Tennis:
    7. Image Orig Src: Link
    Followers : Around 900 Million Fans.
    Places : Asia, Europe, Africa, Americas
  7. Rugby Union:
    8. Image Orig Src: Link
    Followers : Not more than 400 Million Fans.
    Places : South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia,
    USA & many countries in Europe.
  8. Baseball:
    9. Image Orig Src: Link
    Followers : Around 300 Million Fans.
    Places : U.S, Japan, Cuba, Dom rep
  9. Basketball :
    10. Image Orig Src: Link
    Followers : Around 300M Fans.
    Places : U.S, Canada,China
  10. American Football (Gridiron) :
    11. Image Orig Src: Link
    Followers : Not more than 250 Million Fans.
    Places : U.S mainly

Ref :
http://sports.indiainfo.com
CIA Library – Countrywise Population
UN Population Report
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population
Google Insights : A different way to view stats
Anyone Watching Golf?
http://www.sportingo.com/Article.aspx?id=11587

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Published by rohitabstract

If I had to describe myself in three words, they would be – confident, witty and truthful. On the career front - I am a software engineer who loves solving problems logically.

2 thoughts on “World’s Most Popular Sports”

    1. Well Basketball would have been very high in the list…but unfortunately only the young chinese are avid followers of it…thx to Yao Ming. But its not popular throughout since few play it….Chinese people arent really tall 😛

      ps : China is going to have 20,000 players and 2,000 coaches by 2015….so cricket might actually beat football by then 😀

      Reply

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