25 Interesting Facts and Figures About Why Soccer Is the Most Popular Sport in the World
There are three important questions that I would like both of us; you and I, to answer.
The questions are:
- What is the most popular sport in the world?
- What is the most played sport in the world?
- Which is the most watched sport in the world?
Without bias, what are your answers to these questions?
Could it be Basketball? Hockey? Squash? Badminton? Discus? Shotput? Tennis? Volleyball? Rugby? Javelin? Wrestling? Cricket? Boxing? Judo? Karate? Baseball? American Football? or the real Football, also known as Soccer?
My own simple answer to these questions, without any fear of contradiction, is football, also known as soccer.
This is because soccer meets all the three criteria mentioned above: ‘the most popular sport,’ ‘the most played sport,’ and ‘the most watched sport’ in the world.
Soccer is simply the best sport in the world, despite being sidelined or forced to play a second fiddle in the United States.
Surely, you may ask, “Why is football so popular?” or “How did you know that soccer is the most popular, the most played, and the most played sport in the world?”
There are many facts and figures that prove that soccer is the most popular, the most played, and the most watched sport in the world.
Soccer may not be the oldest sport in the world, but according to the available facts and figures, it is definitely the most popular, the most played, and the most watched sport in the world, today, and hopefully, for many years to come.
That said, have you ever wondered why football (soccer) is enjoying such massive global popularity above every other sport in the world?
I’ll tell you in case you don’t know.
There are twenty-five (25) interesting facts and figures about why football (soccer) is the most popular, the most played, and the most watched sport in the world.
Are you ready to receive the twenty-five (25) interesting facts and figures?
You can now have them.
- Pocket-Friendly
The number one reason football (soccer) is the most popular, the most played, and the most watched sport in the world is because it is pocket-friendly; by that I mean inexpensive.
While soccer is the game of the ball, one does not even need a ball to play it.
Children in different places, especially from the slums of this world, are known to be making use of anything they see or can find, including oranges, cans, plastic bottles, and pieces of clothes stuffed in a little sacks and sown at different ends, as their balls.
They are also known to use any two visible objects, including stones, pieces of wood or sticks, or even their clothes and footwear to mark the goal, while playing barefoot or with any type of footwear if they are so lucky to find one.
Even at the professional level, soccer is still cheaper than most other sports.
For example, while you need just a pair of cleats or boots, shin guards, and bibs or jerseys, which are fairly priced, to play soccer, you need more expensive shoulder pads, helmets, and mouthpieces, among other equipment to play American football.
This is why it is dominated by players from poor backgrounds.
2. Naturally Flexible
Another very good that is responsible for the popularity of football (soccer) is the fact that it can be played almost anywhere, where there is a space; from the official football playing fields or pitches to gymnasiums, streets, school playgrounds, parks, or beaches.
This is unlike most other sports, including basketball, rugby, and cricket, that must be played at specially designated places.
In addition to this, soccer can be played under any weather condition, including under rain, in snow, and in temperatures that are well over 100 degrees.
3. Simplicity: Easy to Understand, Easy to Play
It is easy to understand the game of soccer than it is to understand most other sports.
Even children and women, who are not too inclined to the game of football, find it easy to understand its basic rules; how it is played, how a goal is scored, and when a foul is committed.
For example, give a soccer ball to a 3-year-old boy and watch what he would do with it.
He would simply and quietly put it down and kick it with his leg, though feebly, without any form of education or coaching, because he understands, innately, that football (soccer) ball is played with the legs.
That’s how easy it is to understand.
Unfortunately, that is not true of most other sports.
The complaints many people give for not liking some other sports is because it is somehow difficult to understand the way those sports are played.
And because nobody likes to be associated with what he or she doesn’t understand, other sports will continue to remain less popular than soccer.
Simply put, the ease of understanding football (soccer), compared to the difficulty of understanding most other sports, is one of the reasons the popularity of soccer is growing day after day.
4. Minimal Duration
A typical soccer match lasts for 90 minutes, excluding extra time or any other added time, and probably time for penalty kicks, and 2 hours at most, all things being equal.
If you compare this to games like baseball or tennis which can last for an average of 3 to 4 hours or even more, you’ll understand why soccer’s minimal duration makes it more appealing to more people in the world than other sports.
Since the human mind gets tired and bored of seeing longer games than shorter games, soccer will continue to be more popular than most other sports.
5. Largest Fan-Following
Soccer, unarguably, has the largest fan following of any sport around the globe.
The population of the world is almost 8 billion people, and more than 4 billion of this number watched the 2018 World Cup hosted by Russia and won by France.
Another proof was what transpired in the 2020 edition of the European Championships, which was staged in 2021, because of the impact of COVID-19 which escalated around the globe in 2020.
In that soccer championship, some 5.32 billion people tuned in throughout the tournament, with the final between England and Italy watched by a joint-record audience of 328 million fans.
What this means is that more than half of the population of the world watched that game and loves football, and this number is sure to increase as the popularity of soccer continues to soar.
This explains why soccer is often referred to as “The World’s Game” in many corners of the globe due to the sheer volume of its fans worldwide.
6. Religious-Like Passionate Fans
Football has the highest number most passionate fans, among all the sports in the world.
Soccer is more or less a religion to most of those fans.
Like the worshippers of other religions, they spend their time and their effort in promoting and supporting their favourite soccer teams or clubs, without expecting any form of compensation, other than good performance or an outright victory against their opponents.
Their passion for the game is so strong that whenever soccer matches are going on, especially those involving their favourite teams, other things has to wait.
You cannot find this kind of religious passion among the fans of other sports.
7. Scintillating Showmanship
If you have ever watched a soccer match, especially at the professional and national levels, you would have discovered that soccer matches have become more or less a show business.
You must have noticed some beautifully dressed fans who sing inspiring and motivational songs and dance to the beats of their different musical instruments.
Some members of the Award-winning Nigerian Football Supporters Club
Such emotional and exciting fever and roar of fans make the game visually appealing, as well as pleasant and exciting to watch.
No other sport in the world enjoys this kind of scintillating showmanship that is associated with football (soccer).
8. The Largest Employer of Youths in the World
Soccer puts food on the table for more youths, across the world than any other sport.
According to FIFA’s estimate, about 250 million people, made up of young men and young women, play association football across the world.
This means that about 250 million youths receive different sizes of wages in exchange for their skills.
This explains why many youths and children, across the globe, are yearning to play professional soccer, a situation that continually helps to boost the popularity of the game.
9. More International Appeal
Soccer has more international appeal than most other sports.
While some sports, including cricket and American football, are played only in a few countries of the world, football (soccer) is played in almost every part of the world, including the United States, where it is not as popular as basketball.
Proof of this is the fact that the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, FIFA, has more than 200 member countries, from all the continents of the world that are grouped into six (6) major member associations, namely: Asian Football Federation, AFC, Confederation of African Football, CAF, Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football CONCACAF, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol, CONMEBOL, Oceania Football Confederation, OFC, and the Union of European Football Associations, UEFA.
The simple interpretation of the foregoing information is that football (soccer) is more acceptable and more popular across the globe than most other sports.
10. No Gender Restrictions.
While some sports, even at the Olympics level, are meant for either only men or for only women, that is not true with football.
In soccer, both men and women are given equal opportunity to play the game to any level of their choice, except in a few countries, where women, on religious grounds, are barred from playing football.
11. No Physical Restriction
There is no physical restriction in the game of soccer as we have it in some sports that require people of a certain height and physique.
There are some sports where you’ll never make it to the top without predisposed genetic advantages regarding size; soccer is not one of them.
If there were such restrictions in football, as we have in some sports, many soccer players (I don’t want to mention names), wouldn’t have had the opportunity to play the game at all, let alone excel at it.
Football is made for people of all sizes and heights; in soccer, all men are created equal, just as God created all men equal.
12. Plenty of Options for Players
There are different categories of football (soccer) competitions cum championships, including the FIFA World Cup that we all are familiar with, the Indoor Soccer or Futsal World Cup, and the Beach Soccer World Cup.
Soccer players have the opportunity of choosing the particular type of soccer career that he or she wants to pursue.
This freedom to make a choice of the kind of soccer to play, endears the game to the hearts of many people, as variety is the spice of life.
13. Equal Opportunity for Players to Excel
There are usually eleven (11) players in every standard or normal soccer team, and each of them has an equal chance of shining and becoming a star, by showing his or her individual potential, while still working with the plan of his or her entire team or club.
The skills and the technique of any of the players can change the dynamics of the match, thereby helping his or her team or club to win a match.
Any player who may decide to go the extra mile would immediately be noticed or noted by his coach, teammates, and fans, among other people.
This is not so common in most other sports, including baseball, where the ball is always in the hands of the pitcher and of the catcher, as well as American Football, where the ball is always in the hand of the quarterback.
What this means is that football (soccer) gives room for individual players’ excellence and prominence more than in most other sports.
14. Regular Practice and Play
The Holy Bible teaches us that “…faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” Romans 10:17.
This means that the best way for anybody to develop faith in God is by continually listening, hearing, and making use of the word of God.
Soccer’s popularity thrives on this biblical principle.
How?
All the countries where soccer is played have their football leagues, where players practice and play the game regularly, except when they are on break.
Having a sport that is playable at all times helps to grow the game.
As soccer players practice and play constantly in order to hone their skills, which is like constantly listening to the word of God, they also give their fans the opportunity of enjoying and entertain themselves regularly.
This kind of win-win situation for both the players and their fans helps to fuel the popularity of the game.
15. A Great Unifying Force
Football (soccer), more than any other sport, has proven itself to be a unifying force in different parts of the world.
A very good example is what happens in Nigeria, Africa’s largest country, and the world’s most populous nation of black people.
There are more than two hundred (200) tribes and ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, with each of them having its own divergent political, religious, and cultural differences.
Despite all these differences, whenever there’s a soccer match between Nigeria and any other country, Nigerians of all ages and sexes would bury their differences and come together to support their national team that has a match to play.
This situation becomes more noticeable when Nigeria qualifies to participate in the FIFA World Cup championship.
When this happens, as it always does, every Nigerian, including those who had never watched soccer before, would cheer their national team, without minding their social, political, and economic differences and challenges.
Interestingly, similar situations take place in other countries of the world.
Without mincing words, therefore, no other sport has this great power of unifying the people of a particular country like football (soccer).
16. It Helps Nations to Build their National Pride
A certain win or victory in soccer, for a country, can have a significant impact on that country, for many years to come.
A case in point was the incident that happened in Saudi Arabia in August 1989, during the FIFA U-20 Junior World Cup.
One of the participating countries in that competition, Nigeria, was four goals down in the quarter-final match with Russia, but just a few minutes to the end of the match, Nigeria pulled back the four goals deficits to become at par with Russia.
After that dramatic 4-4 draw at full time, Nigeria went ahead to defeat Russia 5-3 on penalties, in what was and still is known in Nigeria and across the world as ‘The Miracle of Damman.’
In addition to humbling Russia, Nigeria also defeated the United States in the semi-final of that competition but lost narrowly to Portugal in the final.
From that time till this day, Nigerians, both at home and in Diaspora, are still savouring the euphoria, the excitement, and the pride of beating the so-called world superpowers in the field of play.
No other sport sparks up national pride like soccer.
That is the beauty of the game of football.
17. Marketing
The love and preference for soccer by many major brands, across the globe, is one of the reasons the game is more popular than other sports.
Those big-name brands, whether in automobile, banking, aviation, technology, beverage, and manufacturing prefer to reach their customers and potential customers through soccer because they know that soccer has a large followership.
That form of marketing takes place across all media platforms, including social media and mass media, and involves people of all ages, thereby boosting the popularity of soccer.
18. Loyalty of Fans
Diehard soccer fans show their loyalty to the teams they love in different and incredible ways.
One, once they choose their favourite team, they remain loyal to it for the rest of their lives; come rain come sunshine, including when they are struggling against relegation or even relegated.
Two, they spend their hard-earned money on buying souvenirs and replica shirts of their favourite teams or clubs, and so on and so forth.
The popularity-boosting loyalty of most soccer fans to their favourite teams and clubs cannot be compared to that of the fans of most other sports.
19. Family Tradition
Similar to loyalty, but a little bit different, is a family tradition.
Some families across the world have a certain type of tradition, which they hold dear to their hearts, and each member of those families respect such a tradition, without fail.
For example, some families have a tradition that forbids their younger men and women from marrying before their elderly ones, and so on and so forth.
The same thing happens in soccer.
Some people became interested in soccer because their parents were soccer fans before they were born.
In most cases, they didn’t even have to choose what team to support because the moment they were born their parents would give them a gift of their own team’s jersey.
This means that they grow up becoming lovers of soccer and fans of the teams that their parents supported.
As this tradition grows, from generation to generation, so also does soccer grows in popularity, from generation to generation, across the globe.
20. Positive Competitiveness
Soccer thrives in the atmosphere of positive competitiveness among players and fans alike.
While every soccer player strives for victories and excellence, soccer fans also strive to outdo the fans of other teams, with a view to having the loudest voices within the world of soccer.
This kind of healthy competition helps to drive up the popularity of soccer beyond that of other sports.
21. No Sport Helps to Develop the Economies of Countries Like Soccer
The soccer governing body, the Federation Internationale de Football Association, FIFA, organises its famous World Cup every four years.
Such a huge and popular event requires a lot of investment, especially in building and enhancing world-class infrastructure, including stadia and hotels in host countries.
To be able to meet up with such expenses, the country that wins the hosting right goes out in search of investors to help finance such a gigantic project.
The large number of visitors that such competition attracts, combined with the developed facilities, goes a long way to boosting the economy of the host.
Many countries that have hosted the World Cup championships have benefitted in this way.
In addition to this happy development, such infrastructural facilities remain useful for other soccer and non-soccer uses, even after the World Cup championship has ended.
This means that soccer helps, to a very large extent, in the building and development of the economies of many countries of the world.
Why would a sport that helps to develop both its practitioners and the economies of different countries of the world not be popular?
22. Its Power of Entertainment
Before now, soccer was just a sport, and nothing more.
But today, soccer has become both a sport and a source of entertainment for its teeming fans, followers, and lovers all over the world just like music, comedy, and acting.
In other words, soccer is no longer just a sport, but also an entertainment in itself.
23. The Power of Social Media
Social Media, an integral part of digital media, has, undoubtedly, changed the modern sports experience for fans across the world.
Millions of sports fans across the world, especially soccer fans, are known to be very active in sharing photos, videos, and other forms of content on different social media platforms, which have become the new platforms for sports fan engagement.
Interestingly, this shift to digital media, by sports, is more pronounced in soccer than in any other sport.
More facts and figures on the role social media plays in boosting the popularity of soccer can be found in the beautiful blog post published on the Rock Content Website.
24. The Fast Growth in e-sports
One of the fastest-growing industries in the world, in the past decade, esports, has proved to be a natural fit for soccer.
Soccer-based games are steadily rising in the popularity charts, which also contributes in the popularity of soccer generally.
“In 2019,” reports an online journal, “there were 206 million hours of live non-esports viewership for FIFA 19 and FIFA 20.
“This number represents almost a 50% increase from 2018 and points to a trend of increased interest in soccer as a vehicle for gaming.
“Fun fact: FIFA is the only sports game in the top 25 of most-watched games,” the journal added.
As e-sports continues to grow in popularity, so also will the popularity of soccer generally, grows.
25. Rich, Memorable, and Well-Documented History
If you type “the history of football” or “the history of soccer” into any search engine of your choice, including Google.com, Bing.com, Yahoo.com, Baidu.com, Yandex.com, DuckDuckGo.com, Ask.com, and Ecosia.org, you would discover that soccer is one of the oldest sports.
Its rich, memorable, and well-documented history, written several years ago, serves as a guide to modern soccer players and soccer administrators in developing and popularizing the game in line with Henry Glassie, an American historian quote that says: “History is not the past but a map of the past, drawn from a particular point of view, to be useful to the modern traveler.”
Again, members of the soccer family, across the globe, do not toy with their history, because they understand and believe in the words of Robert Heinlein, an American author, which says: “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.”
A sport that has such a rich, memorable, and well-documented history for the present and generations yet unborn is sure to be and remain popular.
We have come to the end of the “25 interesting facts and figures why soccer is the most popular sport in the world.”
All that needed to be proved has been proved, and you can now agree with me that soccer is the king of world sports.
Thank you for following me up to this level.
The question, at this point, therefore, is: for how long will football (soccer) remain the most popular, the most played, and the most watched sport in the world?
Answer: As long as human beings live on this planet called earth.
25 Interesting Facts and Figures About Why Soccer Is the Most Popular Sport in the World. THE END.
To share your knowledge about soccer, on this Blog, please, contact us via our contact page.
