| There's an age old debate about which sports have | | | | These figures are largely boosted by the popularity |
| the most participants or attract the most spectators. | | | | of the sport in Asia, where India, Pakistan, |
| We take a look at some statistics to see if we can | | | | Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are all significant cricketing |
| find the answers. | | | | nations. |
| Judging from the number of followers of the game, | | | | Elsewhere in the world, England, South Africa, |
| football (soccer) is the most popular sport of all. With | | | | Australia, New Zealand and the West Indies all have |
| more than 3 billion fans worldwide this is the sport | | | | international cricket teams, while the sport is growing |
| that dominates all others. | | | | in some parts of continental Europe (notably the |
| Estimates suggest that the last football World Cup | | | | Netherlands and Denmark). |
| final was watched live by almost 1 billion people - a | | | | The third most popular sport in the world is harder to |
| quite astonishing figure. In the UK alone there are | | | | judge, with figures conflicting. Some suggest |
| almost 50,000 registered football clubs, with up to 3 | | | | basketball, undoubtedly the American sport with the |
| million participants. | | | | largest global appeal. |
| Leading football clubs attract attendances of | | | | Other leading contenders include tennis, field hockey |
| considerably more than 50,000 spectators on a | | | | (once again, a sport that has enormous appeal in the |
| regular basis, with the Spanish heavyweights of Real | | | | Indian sub-continent) and swimming. |
| Madrid and Barcelona often drawing massive crowds. | | | | A recent report in the UK suggested that the largest |
| Football truly is the global game. | | | | sports, in terms of participants, were walking and |
| Next up in the listings is a sport that might surprise | | | | fishing. Although walking by not be classed as a sport |
| many: cricket. Although cricket seems to have failed | | | | by many, the inclusion of fishing on such a list may |
| to have caught the imagination in large parts of the | | | | come as a surprise. |
| world (North America, China and South America being | | | | Though there is little agreement and such things are |
| examples), participation and viewing figures are | | | | difficult to measure, it seems undeniable that football |
| extremely high. | | | | (soccer) remains the world's most popular sport. |