What Is the Most Watched Sport in the World? Global and US Rankings

Soccer is the most watched sport in the world, and it is not close. No other sport combines a global fan base of billions, a World Cup that stops entire countries and weekly league matches broadcast in almost every nation on earth.

The ranking below it is more complicated. Audience figures come from leagues, broadcasters and research firms that count differently, and a sport that is enormous in one region can be almost invisible in another. This guide explains what the numbers mean, which sports reliably come out on top and how the picture looks for American viewers.

The global top ten

Estimates of worldwide fan bases are rough, but most surveys agree on the order of the leaders. The figures below are commonly cited estimates of the number of fans who follow each sport, not the audience of a single event.

Rank	Sport	Estimated fans	Strongest regions
1	Soccer	3.5 billion or more	Europe, South America, Africa, Asia
2	Cricket	About 2.5 billion	India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, England, Australia
3	Basketball	About 2 billion	United States, China, Philippines, Europe
4	Field hockey	About 2 billion	India, Pakistan, Netherlands, Australia
5	Tennis	About 1 billion	Europe, North America, Australia
6	Volleyball	About 900 million	Brazil, Italy, Poland, Japan, United States
7	Table tennis	About 850 million	China, Japan, Europe
8	Baseball	About 500 million	United States, Japan, Caribbean, South Korea
9	American football	About 400 million	United States
10	Rugby	About 400 million	Europe, Oceania, South Africa

Treat the lower half of the table with caution. Field hockey and table tennis owe their high totals to huge populations in a few countries, and estimates for sports like rugby and American football swing widely depending on how a "fan" is defined.

Why soccer is number one

Soccer's lead comes from reach rather than intensity in any single place. It is the top sport in most of Europe, all of South America and much of Africa and Asia. Club competitions such as the English Premier League, Spain's La Liga and the UEFA Champions League are broadcast in well over a hundred countries, so a single weekend produces a global audience no other league can match.

The FIFA World Cup is the clearest example. FIFA reported that around 1.5 billion people watched the 2022 final between Argentina and France, and billions more followed some part of the tournament. The game is also cheap to play, needs almost no equipment and is easy to understand on first viewing, which keeps new fans arriving in every generation.

Cricket: the giant many Americans never see

Cricket is the second most watched sport in the world mainly because of India, a country of more than 1.4 billion people where cricket is far ahead of every other sport. Matches between India and Pakistan regularly draw some of the largest TV and streaming audiences anywhere. The Indian Premier League, played every spring, is one of the most valuable sports leagues in the world. Outside South Asia, England and Australia, cricket gets little attention, which is why it surprises many Americans to see it ranked so high. For a quick introduction, see our guide to more sports.

Basketball's global rise

Basketball is the most global of the American sports. The NBA has a huge following in China and the Philippines, and the league's rosters now include dozens of international players. The FIBA Basketball World Cup and Olympic basketball tournaments draw large audiences, and European leagues such as the EuroLeague have loyal fan bases. That international reach is why basketball ranks above baseball and American football in most global surveys.

What Americans watch most

The United States is the big exception to the global pattern. American football is by far the most watched sport in the country, and the NFL dominates television ratings every fall.

• NFL football – The Super Bowl is the most watched broadcast in the US almost every year. Recent Super Bowls have set records with average audiences of well over 120 million viewers, and regular-season NFL games make up most of the most-watched programs of each year.
• College football – Rivalry games, conference championships and the College Football Playoff draw audiences that rival many professional sports.
• Basketball – The NBA Finals and March Madness are the biggest basketball events, and the WNBA has seen strong audience growth in recent seasons.
• Baseball – MLB's regular-season audience is spread across 30 regional markets, so national ratings are smaller, but the World Series still draws tens of millions of viewers.
• Soccer – The World Cup draws large US audiences, and interest in MLS, the Premier League and the women's national team keeps growing.

Surveys that ask Americans to name their favorite sport tell the same story. Pro football has led for decades, with basketball, baseball and college football following.

The biggest single events on earth

Single events are easier to compare than whole sports, because broadcasters publish audience figures for them. The events that reliably draw the largest global audiences are:

1. The FIFA World Cup final – audiences estimated in the billions.
2. The Summer Olympics opening ceremony and marquee events – a multi-sport audience across almost every country.
3. The UEFA Champions League final – the most watched annual club match in the world.
4. India vs Pakistan cricket matches – especially at the Cricket World Cup.
5. The Super Bowl – enormous in the US, much smaller internationally.

For a wider list, including the Tour de France, Wimbledon and the Kentucky Derby, see our guide to the most famous sporting events in the world.

Why audience numbers are so hard to compare

If you see two lists that disagree, both can be "right." Sports audiences are measured in very different ways:

• Fans versus viewers – A fan count estimates how many people follow a sport at all; a viewership figure counts how many watched a specific broadcast.
• Average versus reach – An average audience counts viewers watching at a typical minute, while reach counts everyone who watched at least a few minutes. Reach figures are always much higher.
• Streaming and illegal streams – Many fans watch on phones, on social media or through unofficial streams that no ratings system captures.
• Self-reported figures – Some global numbers come from the leagues and federations themselves, which have a reason to report large totals.

The safest conclusion is the one every serious study reaches: soccer is first worldwide, cricket and basketball follow, and American football is the clear leader in the United States.