The UK is home to a healthy variety of sports, but of all the different kinds that are played, watched, and bet on, there’s one which is the most popular.
Getting involved in sport is a national pastime; from playing to watching, to betting, to the merch, sport is woven into our lives as a matter of pride. But what is the reigning sport in terms of popularity in the UK? If you guessed football, then you’d be right. Here is where football aka soccer wins, broken down by the numbers.
Word on the street
Taking a stroll through the center of London or the outskirts of Paisley and polling the passersby on their favorite sports might get mixed results. If you’re out and about near Wimbledon during the tennis you’re liking to receive an emphatic “TENNIS” as the answer to the question from the punters. But if you grab a mixed bag of people on any given day, in any given place around the UK, you’re more than likely to hear the same thing as we’re about to discover here.
Football, aka soccer, is the most popular sport country-wide.
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Who’s paid the highest?
One way to check on the popularity of a sport is to see the type of salaries that the league’s biggest stars can make. Because if teams or sports have a huge amount of cash to splash, then it’s indicative of the amount of attention (and incoming monies) that they are receiving.
So, while Cristiano Ronaldo is not originally from the UK (he is, in fact, Portuguese), his alliance with Manchester United placed him pretty high on the ‘highest paid’ athletes list – in the number three spot, to be precise. Of course, the star has now uprooted to Saudi after parting with the UK club.
The type of salaries that top footballers in the UK can command is absolutely astronomical and their sponsorship deals are also something to be seen. On the field, Ronaldo commands $60M, and off-field is around the same, coming in at $55M. There are two other footballers on the Top Ten list for last year, Neymar and Messi, and although their heritage and teams are not UK-based, it speaks to the popularity of the sport worldwide. Others rounding out the list include four NBA stars, Federer representing tennis, the ever-present Tom Brady for gridiron, and Canelo Alvarez for boxing.
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What do kids grow up playing?
As much as one-third of kids aged 5 to 16 play football in England, both boys and girls, making it the most popular game to play, followed by others such as rugby, cricket, and netball. Since playing sports is compulsory at schools, this means that most kids will grow up playing football if not in leagues, at least in lesson time.
Taking a bet
Where are people putting down their money and placing a bet? Again, if we are looking at the most popular sport by the numbers, it leads back to football. According to the Gambling Commission, in the year to March 2022, the Gross Gambling Yield for remote betting was £2.4 billion total, of which almost half of this sum was derived from football betting, which generated £1.1 billion. Gross Gambling Yield is the amount that gaming operators have as income minus all its payouts to customers. When you think about it this way, you can see that the amount of money bet on football overall is actually higher than one billion. The amount changing hands through placing a wager on a football match is crazy – and that’s to say nothing of the recent World Cup!
As usual, it’s important to know what you’re getting into when placing a bet.. Plus, if you’re looking into placing a good wager on your favorite soccer match, team, or player, we recommend that you look into signing up with a reputable and licensed provider. Aside from quality no-deposit free spins bonuses in the UK, you can also find operators offering quite a few free bets.
How does it compare worldwide?
If you guessed that soccer is the world’s most popular sport, too, then you would’ve guessed correctly. While gridiron – that’s American football, led by the NFL – is the most popular sport in the USA, hockey leads in Canada, and India is mad about cricket, for most countries around the world, football is the number one sport by fan count, players, and money in the game.
To the future…
In the battle for popularity, one thing is for sure. The UK is brimming with sports fever, superstars, and money, honey. In a nation fueled by a competitive spirit, there’s no denying that much of it is fueled by footy fever. And in a world where soccer leads the way and international competitions grow stronger, it is likely to continue that way – at least for the time being.
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