International sport

TOP 10 Most Played Sports Around The World

In the last global census undertaken by the sports governing body FIFA, it was estimated that there are 265 million people who play the sport along with more than 5 million referees, which equates to 4% of the world’s population, thus cementing its place atop the list of the world’s most-played sports.[1]

  1. Soccer- Be it at grassroots level, 5-a-side leagues, or at the top level, no sport rivals soccer for participation.
  2. Badminton- It may come as a surprise to some people that badminton is among the world’s most played sports. However, it is extremely popular and played regularly by an estimated 220 million people around the world. It is particularly popular in Asia, with many of the best players ever to grace the game hailing from the continent.
  3. Field Hockey- This fast-paced sport is played by men and women in over 100 countries on 5 continents around the world.
  4. Volleyball- With its origins in America, volleyball has grown to an estimated global participation figure of 998 million people. Indoor and outdoor versions of the sport are played all over the world, with over 220 affiliated national federations registered to volleyball’s global governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball
  5. Basketball- The Federation of International Basketball Associations estimates a minimum of 450 million people play the sport around the world.
  6. Tennis- Widely recognised as one of the most popular individual sports in the world, tennis is played by an estimated number of 60 million men and women according to Topend Sports.
  7. Cricket- The majority of participants of this sport come from Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and the UK, but cricket is also on the rise in other countries all over the world. The International Cricket Council (ICC) states an incredible 125 countries around the world play the sport.
  8. Table Tennis- Table tennis has become one of the most popular sports in the last decade following its integration in schools, social clubs, and sports centres around the globe. Topend Sports estimate 300 million people worldwide play table tennis.
  9. Baseball- For many years, baseball was most popular in America than anywhere else, but nowadays it’s one of the most played sports in the world with participation rising rapidly in countries like Japan. The sport’s international governing body, World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), estimates that 65 million people play either baseball or softball in over 140 countries.  ERA (Earned Run Average) of a baseball player can be calculated by this formula ERA =  (earned runs) / (innings pitched) * (number of innings in regulation game).
  10. Golf- Easily one of the most played sports in the world, 60 million people around the world regularly play golf according to Golf Today magazine.

That means these are the most popular sports that played internationally. So what is the fittest sport? A firm favourite at the Olympic Games, field hockey is a highly technical sport, played by 10 outfield players plus a goalkeeper and its rules differ from the Ice Hockey variation of the sport.

FIFA [2]

(/ˈfiːfə/ French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association; English: International Federation of Association Football; Spanish: Federación Internacional de Fútbol Asociación; German: Internationaler Verband des Association-Fußball) is a non-profit organization that describes itself as an international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer. It is the highest governing body of association football.

FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, its membership now comprises 211 national associations; Russia was suspended in 2022. These national associations must each also be members of one of the six regional confederations into which the world is divided: Africa, Asia, Europe, North & Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania and South America

Today, FIFA outlines a number of objectives in the organizational Statutes, including growing association football internationally, providing efforts to ensure it is accessible to everyone, and advocating for integrity and fair play. FIFA is responsible for the organization and promotion of association football's major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930 and the Women's World Cup which commenced in 1991. Although FIFA does not solely set the laws of the game, that being the responsibility of the International Football Association Board of which FIFA is a member, it applies and enforces the rules across all FIFA competitions. All FIFA tournaments generate revenue from sponsorship; in 2018, FIFA had revenues of over US $4.6 billion, ending the 2015–2018 cycle with a net positive of US$1.2 billion, and had cash reserves of over US$2.7 billion.

Reports by investigative journalists have linked FIFA leadership with corruption, bribery, and vote-rigging related to the election of FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the organization's decision to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively. These allegations led to the indictments of nine high-ranking FIFA officials and five corporate executives by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges including racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. On 27 May 2015, several of these officials were arrested by Swiss authorities, who were launching a simultaneous but separate criminal investigation into how the organization awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Those among these officials who were also indicted in the U.S. are expected to be extradited to face charges there as well. Many officials were suspended by FIFA's ethics committee including Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini. In early 2017, reports became public about FIFA president Gianni Infantino attempting to prevent the re-elections of both chairmen of the ethics committee, Cornel Borbély and Hans-Joachim Eckert, during the FIFA congress in May 2017. On 9 May 2017, following Infantino's proposal, FIFA Council decided not to renew the mandates of Borbély and Eckert. Together with the chairmen, 11 of 13 committee members were removed.

Wheelchair basketball teams playing in the 2008 Summer Paralympics

The concept of international sport refers to sport when the participants represent at least two countries. The most well-known international sports event is the Olympic Games. Other examples include the FIFA World Cup and the Paralympic Games. The cricket match played between the United States and Canada is the first ever International match played in any sport.

Modern international sports events are big business for as well as influencing the political, economical, and other cultural aspects of countries around the world. Especially with politics and sports, sports can affect countries, their identities, and in consequence, the world.

History

The ancient Olympic Games were a series of competitions held between representatives of several city-states and kingdoms from Ancient Greece, which featured mainly athletic but also combat and chariot racing events. During the Olympic games, all struggles between the participating city-states were postponed until the games were finished.[3] The origin of the Olympics is shrouded in mystery and legend.[4] During the 19th century, the Olympic Games became a popular global event.

The first international competition, between teams from Norway and Sweden, was held in Norway in 1932. Apart from a break for the war, the Nordic competitions continued, at first between Finland, Norway and Sweden, with Denmark joining in at a later stage. In 1946 a Nordic body for co-operation (NORD) was founded.

The cricket match played between the United States and Canada is the first ever International match played in any sport. Modern international sports events are big business for as well as influencing the political, economical, and other cultural aspects of countries around the world.

With the first Olympic Games in 776 BC—which included events such as foot and chariot races, wrestling, jumping, and discus and javelin throwing—the Ancient Greeks introduced formal sports to the world.[5]

Economics

While some economists are skeptical about the economic benefits of hosting the Olympic Games, emphasizing that such "mega-events" often have large costs, hosting (or even bidding for) the Olympics appears to increase the host country's exports, as the host or candidate country sends a signal about trade openness when bidding to host the Games.[6] Moreover, research suggests that hosting the Summer Olympics has a strong positive effect on the philanthropic contributions of corporations headquartered in the host city, which seems to benefit the local nonprofit sector. This positive effect begins in the years leading up to the Games and might persist for several years afterwards, although not permanently. This finding suggests that hosting the Olympics might create opportunities for cities to influence local corporations in ways that benefit the local nonprofit sector and civil society.[7] The Games have also had significant negative effects on host communities; for example, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions reports that the Olympics displaced more than two million people over two decades, often disproportionately affecting disadvantaged groups.[8]

Globalization has continually increased international competition in sports. The FIFA World Cup, for example, is the world's most widely viewed sporting event; an estimated 700 million people watched the final match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa.[9]

According to a 2011 A.T. Kearney study of sports teams, leagues and federations, the global sports industry is worth between €350 billion and €450 billion (US$480-$620 billion).[10] This includes infrastructure construction, sporting goods, licensed products and live sports events.

Another possibility was that sports economics is defined by the application of price or decision theory. For example, a study that examines sport using incentives and objective functions or tries to understand, explain, or predict choices in a sport context is sports economics.

Olympic Games factor of the globalization of sports

An international retransmission

The Olympics are a major factor in the globalization of sport. The Olympic symbol is the most recognized symbol, and the Olympic Games are broadcast around the world. This represents 4.5 billion of people for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[11]

Olympic Games globalization

The Olympic Games have also undergone globalization. The first Olympic Games of the modern era were held in 1896, only 9 disciplines were present and 241 athletes but only men. The place of women is representative of the position of women in society, and from the first Olympiad 1900 women participated but unofficially. It is in 1920 that the first women were officially part of the Olympic Games.

The number of athletes present at each Olympiad host been increasing significantly since the first Olympiad:

  • In 1896 at the first Olympic games 14 countries were represented by 241 athletes for 43 events;
  • 1960 Rome Olympic games have grouped 83 countries for a total of 5338 athletes who competed in 150 different events;
  • London 2012, 204 countries were present representing 10,568 athletes for a total of 302 events.

References
  1. "Top 10 Most Played Sports Around The World In 2022". www.pledgesports.org. 2017-06-28. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  2. "FIFA", Wikipedia, 2022-03-25, retrieved 2022-03-31
  3. Swaddling, Judith (2000). The Ancient Olympic Games (2 ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 54. ISBN 0-292-70373-2. OCLC 10759486. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  4. Young (2004), p. 12
  5. "The History of Sports". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  6. Rose, A. K.; Spiegel, M. M. (2011). "The Olympic Effect*". The Economic Journal. 121 (553): 652–677. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0297.2010.02407.x.
  7. Tilcsik, A. and Marquis, C. 2013. "Punctuated Generosity: How Mega-events and Natural Disasters Affect Corporate Philanthropy in U.S. Communities." Administrative Science Quarterly, 58(1): 111–148..
  8. Glynn, M. A. (2008). "Configuring the field of play: how hosting the Olympic Games impacts civic community". Journal of Management Studies. 45 (6): 1117–1146. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2008.00785.x. S2CID 153973502.
  9. "700 million to watch World Cup Final". The Spy Report. Media Spy. 12 July 2010. Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  10. The Sports Market (2011). A.T. Kearney.
  11. .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA

Further reading
  • Dauncey, Hugh and Hare, Geoff. "The International Herald Tribune 1887-1918: the symbiotic development of modern sport and an international press" (International Herald Tribune Historical Archive 1887-2013. Cengage Learning, 2017) online
  • Geeraert, Arnout, Jens Alm, and Michael Groll. "Good governance in international sport organizations: an analysis of the 35 Olympic sport governing bodies." International journal of sport policy and politics 6.3 (2014): 281-306 online.
  • Li, Ming, Eric W. MacIntosh, and Gonzalo A. Bravo. International sport management (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2012), a university textbook; contents
  • Murray, Stuart, and Geoffrey Allen Pigman. "Mapping the relationship between international sport and diplomacy." Sport in Society 17.9 (2014): 1098-1118 online.
  • Ratten, Vanessa, and Hamish Ratten. "International sport marketing: practical and future research implications." Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing (2011) online.
  • Whitson, David, and Donald Macintosh. "The global circus: International sport, tourism, and the marketing of cities." Journal of Sport and Social Issues 20.3 (1996): 278-295.
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