World Sports! Do We Care?

For all of us who reside in USA, we have a very weak understanding and knowledge of what the main sports in other countries are. The obvious reason is that we have a strong league system that does not require us to follow international games. Even most of the world follows US sports.

But, there are sports out there which are much more popular and are played by billions of people, and I am sure that millions of Americans have never heard of those sports.

In team sports, it is believed that soccer has three billion followers and players in the world, followed by the English sport Cricket with two and a half billion. More than one billion followers are from South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc.).

To your surprise, Field Hockey! Who plays that anyway! This sport has nearly two billion followers and players. Rugby comes next and it follows our American games and other team sports. The numbers are given by many critics and sports pundits.

Australia is believed to be the king of sports by having strong international teams in all major sports, including: Cricket (world champions since 1999, winning three world cups in a row), soccer, field hockey, rugby, tennis, and their domestic Australian Rules Football.

Cricket and field hockey are least popular but are widely played sports. India has been the big boss and savior for cricket with a billion fans of its own and it is beginning to globalize the game. Cricket is no longer a five day sport.

A new Americanized version called Twenty20 cricket came and it lasts about three hours. In those three hours you will see roughly 20 no limit sixers (home runs) and an innings total of 200 runs in 120 balls (pitches). Each inning lasts for 120 balls (pitches) and each team plays one inning in those three or more hours. 

This made cricket more interesting and appealing for non-cricket playing nations and competitive with other major sports. Twenty20 is the fastest developing sport today. India has started a first ever league in cricket called the Indian Premier League by having four international players in each team.

One of the team owners hired Washington Red Skins cheerleaders for his team! IPL was a huge success and lifted cricket from unpopular to very popular in the world this year. Field hockey also has its own followers from all over the globe.

What is more popular than the NFL? Well, the English Premier League. If you don't know what that is... oh boy! But don't worry, you have company. EPL is supposed to be the world's most popular league followed by the American leagues.

How come there is a gap? Is it because we don't care about foreign sports? Or do we want to protect our games? If we forget about the numbers, I believe our games are more entertaining, at least for us.

Do you think we should start building national teams and play other countries (not just in the Olympics)? How about playing foreign sports? This may not happen in the U.S. right? 

(The numbers in this article are approximate. If you want real stats that requires a huge survey, but it doesn't matter in the end. The article is not subjected to argue but discuss the facts in US sports system)

Here is a List of sports popular in different top countries:

United States—American Football

Canada—Ice Hockey

Mexico—Soccer

Caribbean—Basketball and Cricket

Brazil, Argentina, and the rest of Latin America—Soccer

England—Soccer and Cricket

Germany—Soccer and Field Hockey

The rest of Europe—Soccer and Rugby

South Africa—Rugby, Soccer, and Cricket

India—Cricket

Russia—Soccer and Ice Hockey

China—Soccer

Japan—Sumo and Baseball

Singapore, Indonesia, and South Korea—Soccer

Australia—Cricket, Rugby, Soccer, Australian Rules Football, and Field Hockey

New Zealand—Rugby and Cricket