1. Football (Soccer) — 4 Billion Fans
Soccer player on the training field. Image credit: Jacob Land/Shutterstock
Football, better referred to as soccer within the US and Canada, is the hottest sport globally, with an estimated following of 4 billion fans. It's played everywhere on the planet but is especially popular in Europe, Central and South America, and Africa. Like a number of the opposite sports on this list, the origins of football as we all know it are in England within the 19th century. However, history points to people playing similar games as far back as two thousand years, beginning in China. One reason for football’s popularity is that you would like to play football, maybe a ball, and your foot, unlike other sports that need expensive equipment. Hence, anyone, rich or poor, can enjoy the game.
2. Cricket — 2.5 Billion Fans
Cricketer on the sector in action. Image credit: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
Cricket boasts a lover base of two .5 billion. The sport is the hottest within the UK and a few former British colonies, notably India, Pakistan, and Australia. Like baseball, it involves two teams, a bat, an outsized field, and scoring runs. However, there are significant differences, including an extended rectangular pitch at the middle of a cricket field, where the ball is thrown to a batsman, against a mound at the middle of a diamond facing a batter reception plate. Cricket may be a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on a field at the center of which may be a 22-yard (20-meter) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striking the ball bowled at the wicket with the bat (and running between the
Wickets), while the bowling and fielding side tries to stop this (by preventing the ball from leaving the sector and getting the ball to either wicket) and dismiss each batter (so they're "out"). Means of dismissal include being bowled when the ball hits the stumps and dislodges the bails, and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it's hit by the bat and before it hits bottom, or hitting a wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease ahead of the wicket. When ten batters are dismissed, the innings end, and therefore the teams swap roles. The sport is adjudicated by two umpires, aided by a 3rd umpire and match referee in international matches.
3. Hockey — 2 Billion Fans
Playing hockey. Image credit: Schumer/Shutterstock
Hockey, both on-ice and during a field, boasts a following of two billion people. Hockey is especially played in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, whereas hockey is especially popular in Canada, the US, and Northern Europe. The sport involves two teams trying to place a ball into the opposing team’s net with a sports implement. Unlike hockey, hockey usually doesn't involve body contact within the sort of checking.
4. Tennis — 1 Billion
An athlete prepares to serve a ball. Image credit: Maxi sport/Shutterstock
An estimated one billion people worldwide follow tennis, tuning in from around the world. In tennis, players on each side of an elongated net attempt to hit a ball with a racket so that it either goes past their opponents or bounces on their opponents’ side twice to attain points. Pro tennis players like Roger Federer and Serena Williams are now household names around the world.
5. Volleyball — 900 Million
Beach Volleyball at sunset. Image credit: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
Volleyball involves two teams, each on one side of a raised net, trying to “volley” a ball onto the bottom of the opposing team’s side for points. The sport features a following of 900 million people, mostly in North America and Western Europe and Asia, Australia, and South America. One popular variant of the sport, referred to as beach volleyball, is played on sand with two people on each team, as against regular volleyball, where there are normally six players on each team.
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