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In this post, we will check out the top 10 most popular sports in the world by participation.

Sports are a universal language, bringing people from all walks of life together. Whether it’s playing a pick-up game with friends or competing at the highest level, sports have the ability to bring joy and excitement to people’s lives.

With so many different types of sports to choose from, it can be tough to determine which ones are the most popular.

However, when it comes to participation, some sports rise above the rest. From team sports to individual pursuits, these 10 sports have managed to capture the hearts and imaginations of millions of people around the world.

We’ve made extensive research to rank the top 10 most popular sports on the basis of how many people actually play the game.

Yes, it’s quite difficult to calculate the exact participation in the game however our research will give you a proper and possible estimate of different sports on the basis of participation.

So without further delay, let’s go ahead and check out the top 10 most popular sports in the world by participation.

Top 10 Most Popular Sports In The World By Participation

10 Golf

Golf is surely one of the most participated games in the world of sports. In this game, the players use different clubs to hit balls into a sequence of holes in as few strokes as possible.

The game has formed in Scotland in the 15th century. Golf is played for the most subordinate number of strokes by an individual, which is commonly known as stroke play.

Golf is one of the most popular fun games in the world. According to estimates, the number of total golfers globally has risen from 61 million to 66.6 million in a five-year growth period. Golf is number 10 in our list of top 10 most popular sports in the world by participation.

9 Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball game that is played between two opposing teams. Each team consists of nine players. One team has to bat and the other team has to field.

The game moves when a player on the fielding team, known as a pitcher, throws a ball in which a player on the batting team tries to hit with a bat.

For multiple years, baseball has always been the most popular sport in America and around the world.

Approx 40 million people play some form of baseball (fastpitch, slowpitch softball, youth baseball, adult baseball) nationwide. Baseball is by far the most played sport in the US.

Baseball is now becoming increasingly popular in other countries which includes North America, parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

8 Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams comprised of eleven players, a 22-yard (20-meter) pitch with a wicket at each end, each including two bails balanced on three stumps.

The majority of players who are participating in the game come from Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and the UK. However, there are a lot of other top countries which started playing the game as well.

According to analysis, this game is played regularly by an estimated 220 million people around the world.

7 Table Tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is one of the most participated sports. The game is played between two or four players hitting a lightweight ball.

The game takes place on a hard table separated by a net. Table tennis is formed in Victorian England. However, the game is popular around the world now. The game is especially prevalent in Asian countries.

According to the estimates more than 300 million people worldwide participate in table tennis. Table tennis is number 7 in our list of top 10 most popular sports in the world by participation.

6 Tennis

Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles).

Each player operates a tennis racket to strike a hollow rubber ball into the opponent’s court.

Tennis is widely acknowledged as the most famous individual sport in the world. Estimates claim that as of 2021, roughly 635,700 people play tennis at least twice a month in the UK.

Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is surely one of the popular worldwide sports around the world.

5 Basketball

Basketball is a team sport that consists of five players each going against each other on a rectangular court, competing with the primary intent of shooting a basketball through the defender’s hoop while stopping the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop.

The number of participants (aged six years and older) in basketball recorded to be approximately 24.23 million in the US.

The Federation of International Basketball Associations counts more than 450 million people playing basketball around the world.

Global superstars like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James have surely increased the popularity of the sport around the world, and it’s in the top 5 ranking among the world’s most popular sports.

4 Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams consisting of six players go against each other separated by a net. Each team attempts to achieve points by grounding a ball on the other team’s court within classified rules.

Right now, volleyball is played in more than 200 countries in the world. The game is Forming from America and has now become globally popular around the globe.

The game is widely popular in Europe and East Asia. Volleyball is number 4 in our list of top 10 most popular sports in the world by participation.

3 Field Hockey

Field hockey is a team sport in which each team plays eleven players. The game is played with a hard, plastic hockey ball with a hockey stick to the rival goal.

Hockey is played by both men and women in more than 100 countries around the world. The modern game was originated in the 19th century in the United Kingdom.

The game is now played globally and is more prevalent in parts of Western Europe, South Asia, Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and parts of the United States, primarily New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.

2 Badminton

Badminton is a sport played using racquets to strike a shuttlecock across a net. The most typical forms of the game are “singles” and “doubles”.

The game has now become immensely popular in Asia, with recent contests monopolized by China.

Many of the top players of the game hail from the Asian continent. Badminton is number 2 in our list of top 10 most popular sports in the world by participation.

1 Soccer

Soccer is a team sport played with a spheroidal ball between two teams of 11 players. It is played in more than 200 countries making it the world’s most popular sport.

It is estimated that more than 4% of the world’s population plays the sport thus cementing its place at the top as the world’s most popular sport.

The game has a worldwide following, no other sports are compared to soccer when it comes to popularity and participation. Soccer is number 1 in our list of top 10 most popular sports in the world by participation.