We all like doing sports, but which ones are the most widely practised around the world? What's difficult is defining popular clearly and unambiguously - do we mean the sport that is most viewed, the sport that is most played, or the sport with the most enthusiastic fans?
Soccer is one of the most popular sport in the world in terms of spectators. In 2006, over 30 billion people tuned in to watch the FIFA World Cup in Germany (yes, I know that's more than the entire world's population, but this figure is an "accumulated" audience, which means that if people watched more than one game, which the vast majority of people did, they were counted each time). The Soccer World Cup(FIFA) is held every four years and attracts a vast television audience.
The sports listed below were discovered on the internet, and no source for the fan numbers has been identified. However, I typically agree with the selections. For example, field hockey is a popular sport, yet I don't believe it should be high. It appears that not everyone agrees with the list, as evidenced by the very intense conversation in the comments section below.
