Most Popular Sports Around The World

 

All types of sports are popular globally, but what sports can we call THE most popular in the world? Some of the answers may surprise you.

It's no surprise that football, or what Americans call "soccer" is the world's most popular sport to play and to watch. An estimated 3.5 billion people either watch or play football. The World Cup is the global championship of the sport and this tournament is played every four years. The World Cup itself is one of the highest rated sports on television, with many countries tuning in en masse to watch their country's team play. Football is popular in all of the UK, Europe, Asia as well as South America. However, with so many other sports being popular, the Unites States still lags behind in their interest in "soccer".

Next, we have cricket. This sport which consists of a bat and a ball, has been around for hundreds of years and originated in England. The sport is popular in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, some African countries, some Caribbean countries and it is the most popular sport in the countries of India and Pakistan. An estimated 3 billion people watch or play cricket each year.

The next most popular sport is a sure surprise, and that is field hockey, with an estimated 2 billion players or watchers, mostly in Asian countries, European countries, Australia and around Africa. This sport tends to be played in high schools in the United States, usually by girls only.

Coming up next is tennis. Not so surprising, but there are an estimated 1 billion players and watchers of tennis around the world. Tennis tends to be popular in richer countries, including the United States, Asian countries, Australia and Europe. There are four main tournaments in tennis, called "Grand Slams" at which players from many countries play. The first is the Australian Open, then the French Open, Wimbledon and then the US Open in late August. The Grand Slam tournaments tend to get the most attention during the tennis season.

Next we have volleyball. Yet another surprise, with an estimated 900 million viewers or players around the world. Volleyball is popular in the United States, where the sport originated, as well as in Brazil, all over Europe, Russia, China and Japan. Volleyball is a popular high school sport in many countries due to it's team centered play and lack of specialized equipment requirements.

Also popular is table tennis, otherwise known as Ping Pong. This is another surprisingly popular sport around the world, with an estimated 900 million watchers or players. Table tennis originated in England as an after dinner activity for Victorians in the late 19th century. Table tennis as a competitive sport is popular in many countries but is especially popular in China, Korea and Singapore.

After these sports, we have a triumvirate of more mainstream American sports including baseball, golf, American football and basketball, with each sport attracting between 400 and 500 million players or watchers worldwide.

Model Sues Playboy & Radio Host After Sustaining Injures From Using Her Butt To Play Golf

Elizabeth Dickson a 28-year old playboy model has sued playboy and radio host, Kelvin Klein for hitting her butt with a golf clubwhile trying to hit a ball off a tee placed between the cheeks of her buttocks during an amateur golf tournament in California, March, 2012.

The model is suing both parties for $500,000 after claiming she gave no consent for the ball to actually be hit from a tee placed on the cheeks of her buttocks while the game was on.

The model who was invited to come and partake in the amateur golf tournament complied with a request earlier in the day to lie flat on her stomach with her buttocks partially exposed for a photograph with Klein. But now, Elizabeth is claiming that even though she complied, she never gave her consent for Kelvin to hit the ball from her butt, before the accident occurred.

So Remakable! Meet The Austrialia's Youngest Ever Wildlife Ranger Who Plays With All Kinds Of Snake

Charlie Parker a 2-year old Australian boy whose family owns a wildlife park in the country is one of Australia’s youngest wildlife rangers. His family said they have never exposed him to the animals, but he got along with them naturally.

'We're still shocked by his natural ability with the animals. It's quite remarkable to watch - he has absolutely no fear of them and he doesn't just handle them, he also has the knowledge. 'We've never purposely exposed him to the animals - he's just got this obsession with snakes and lizards. It must be genetic', his father said. More pictures after the cut.

Snake charmer: Charlie's legs may wobble under the weight of Pablo but the snake holds no fears for him

Slippery customer: At just two-years-old, Charlie is already an expert snake wrangler

'Remarkable to watch': Family are shocked by Charlie's natural ability with the animals

Dolittle: Charlie is comfortable with animals of all shapes and sizes, including Junior baby alligator Junior

Runs in the family: Charlie's dad Greg owns Ballarat Wildlife Park in Victoria

Adepoju -- Keshi needs Ike Uche, Odemwingie

Former Nigeria midfielder Mutiu Adepoju says coach Stephen Keshi needs to include experienced forwards Ikechukwu Uche and Peter Odemwingie in his squad in order to have a balanced team at the World Cup.

After watching the international friendly match between the Super Eagles and Mexico that ended goalless, Adepoju concluded that the Big Boss needs the duo to have a complete squad.

While Uche last played for the Super Eagles in the final match of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, Odemwingie has not been called up to the national team since he had an open falling out with former coach Samson Siasia and the Nigeria Football Federation in 2012.

“My dear friend Stephen Keshi needs to forgive the boy, Ike Uche and bring him back into the team for the 2014 World Cup preparations,” Adepoju who played alongside Keshi in the Golden Team of 1994 told Goal.

“Ike Uche has really done well in his club to deserve a call up. Keshi can re-assess him in the other friendly matches the Eagles will play.

“I will be happy if he can extend invitations to Osaze Odemwingie too now that he is also doing well with his club in England.

“I want Keshi to temper justice with mercy in the interest of Nigerian football. We must go to the World Cup with our best legs,” he declared.

The former General Manager of Shooting Stars also scored the performance of the four new players invited by Keshi for the Mexico friendly high in the match.

“The newly invited players – Michael Uchebo, Ramon Azeez, Isaac Imoh and defender Leon Balogun – are good players but they still need to play more friendly matches with the team to be able to blend with the team on ground.

“To the best of my knowledge I think has a team on ground and he is just looking for a few to beef up the grey areas in the team. So it depends on which areas or positions in the team Keshi wants to beef up.

“But to me it’s the forward and the midfield that need to be worked on. So I think the inclusion of Ike Uche would definitely solidify the team while Osaze’s return to the team will add quality to the team. These players are in rich form for their respective clubs,” Adepoju said.

Samuel Eto'o Celebrate His 33rd Birthday Today!

SO Eto'o this morning posted on his instagram page that he clocked 33 and some of his followers said no it’s a fake age. Some said he is 40, while some called him 51. Someone even said you Eto'o? Old man.

Lol, but forget the age controversies, he is one of the best footballers we have in Africa. So Eto'o we celebrate you and we say HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Bengals Star DUMP ETIQUETTE Don't Crap Until AFTER the Maid Leaves

Here's a tip Emily Post would approve of ... when nature calls, consider the help ... at least, that's the Brown Code that Bengals safety George Iloka lives by. The 23-year-old defensive stud just faced that exact situation in his home ... tweeting: "I gotta take a big ol s**t but my cleanin lady still here. And she super nice so I dont even wanna do her like that by tearin up the bathroom."Way to do her a solid, man.

One of the men who boarded Malaysian flight on stolen passport looked like Mario Balotelli - authorities reveal

Malaysian authorities have revealed that one of the two men who used stolen passports to board the missing Malaysian Airlines plane looked like Mario Balotelli. 

As it emerged an Iranian businessman known only as Mr Ali was understood to have booked the tickets for the two passengers using the stolen passports, the men who boarded the plane were said to have not been of 'Asian appearance'.

Malaysia's police chief was quoted by local media as saying that one of the men had been identified. 

Civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman declined to confirm this, but said authorities were looking at the possibility the men were connected to a stolen passport syndicate. Continue...

A vessel is seen from a flying Soviet-made plane during a search operation for the missing plane over the South China Sea

Asked by a reporter what they looked like 'roughly', he said: 'Do you know of a footballer by the name of (Mario) Balotelli? He is an Italian. Do you know how he looks like?'

A reporter then asked, 'Is he black?' and the aviation chief replied, 'Yes'.

Authorities had today still found no trace of the missing plane despite searches by ships from six navies and dozens of military aircraft.

A Thai travel agent who arranged the tickets for the two passengers has now said she had booked them on the flight via Beijing because they were the cheapest tickets, it has been reported.

The travel agent in the resort of Pattaya said an Iranian business contact she knew only as 'Mr Ali' had asked her to book tickets for the two men on March 1.

She had initially booked them on other airlines but those reservations expired and on March 6, Mr Ali had asked her to book them again. 

She told the Financial Times she did not think Mr Ali, who paid her in cash and booked tickets with her regularly, was linked to terrorism.

The massive search is mainly in a 50-nautical mile radius from where the last contact with the plane was made, midway between Malaysia's east coast and the southern tip of Vietnam.

A U.S. led search is also taking place hundreds of miles away on the other side of the Malaysian peninsula.

Culled from UK Daily Mail

Cristiano Ronaldo declared World's Richest Footballer with €148m

Today Monday March 10th, popular football website Goal.com released their Rich List and declared Real Madrid and Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo as the richest active footballer in the world.

The World Footballer of the Year held off rival Lionel Messi in the 2014 Goal Rich List with an estimated wealth of €148million. Retired footballer David Beckham was the 2013 Goal Rich List winner but since he's retired from football, he's no longer eligible to be put in the list.

Messi comes second with an estimated net worth of €146million followed by Eto'o with €85million then Wayne Rooney with €84million, and Kaka rounds off the top 5 with €82million.

But Goal made it clear that the list is based on the revenue of active players over the course of their entire careers and not just the previous year. See the top 10 richest footballers after the cut...

Lil Boosie -- The Most Shocking Post-Prison Technology That Blew My Mind

After 5 years in prison, rapper Lil Boosie couldn't believe how dramatically the world changed in such a short period of time -- but one piece of technology stood out as the most mind-blowing.When Boosie got locked up on drug charges back in 2009 ... there was no Instagram, no FaceTime, Google wasn't making glasses -- and during an interview Monday, Boosie talked about what the technology overload felt like after his release.But one technological advancement was more unbelievable than the rest. Watch the video to find out.

LOL! Samuel Eto turns an Old Man on the pitch.

After scoring a goal against Spurs at yesterday's match, Chelsea footballer Samuel Eto'o celebrated the goal by posing as an old man, (pictured above) making fun of recent reports that he's closer to 40 than the 32 he's claiming. He also showed that he bears no hard feelings to his coach Jose Mourinho who was caught on camera saying he believes the Cameroonian striker is 35 and not 32.

"I didn’t suggest the celebration but I knew about it. We thought it was good because the best way to defuse the situation is to make fun of it." Jose Mourinho said of the pose

Whether 32, 35, or 39, Samuel Eto's has consistently shown he's still a force to be reckoned with. He will celebrate his 40th birthday...oh sorry...his 33rd birthday tomorrow March 10th.