The world combines forces when it comes to sports. The most popular sports in the world are the ones played by every country, unlike American football, which is only played by the United States.

Soccer, or as some countries call it, football, is the most popular sport in the world due to the fact that the United States and every other country participate it. The soccer FIFA World Cup is considered the most iconic sports tournament because it is competed with countries, like Japan, Germany, France, United States, etc. Over 3.9 million people watch the FIFA World Cup, and commercials cost more than the Super Bowl commercials when it is casted. Soccer is also considered the richest sports team, highest paid athletes, and most popular on social media. Soccer has crazy fanatics that are unlike any other sports. With painted faces, chants that everyone in the crowd knows, there’s really no surprise that soccer is the most popular sport in the world.

Something that may be surprising is that American football is only number twelve out of twenty-five sports. As football is the most popular sport in the United States, around the world it is considered to be one of the least. The NFL and college football also have raging fanatics but nothing compared to soccer.

The second most popular sport played around the world is basketball. Basketball is popular because it is played in the Olympics and it is also ranked number two in the United States. China, Canada Australia, Turkey, and even Poland participate in basketball. There are several basketball leagues, the second highest amount in the world. Leagues like, the NBA, Spain league, Greece league, Argentina league, Italy league, Turkish Basketball League, Chinese basketball Association, and the French Pro A League. Basketball has the highest average salary in the world, the top NBA players on average get paid $13 million a year. Basketball is also considered the fastest growing sport around the world.

Something the U.S. is not so familiar with is the third most popular sport in the world, cricket. Cricket is compared to baseball when it is described. The reason the United States is not keen on cricket is because the sport is more common in England, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and several other countries. Cricket is not even ranked on the American list of popular sports, mainly because the U.S. has little to no knowledge on this sport. Some Americans do though, there is All Star cricket in the USA that were held in New York one year, Houston another, and Los Angeles.

These are the top three sports in the world, as they may be different than the most popular American ranks, they are all sports that everyone at least has heard of. Soccer, basketball, and cricket, all sports that are unique to a certain country or by all of them. Some are not the rank people would expect but the list goes on and on of sports that are commonly played around the world.