12 Reasons Soccer Is The Most Popular Sport In The World
The most popular sport in the world is soccer. Why? Because it’s the easiest sport to pick up and learn. You don’t need any equipment, and all you need is a ball.
There are lots of reasons people play soccer. Some like the sport itself. Some like the camaraderie of playing together. Some like the physical and mental challenge. Others, like me, like to coach the beautiful game. In soccer there is a place for everyone. I think one of the main reasons is that it is very simple to learn, but has an almost endless sea of complexity once you dive in.
In this post I will outline 12 reasons why soccer is THE most popular sport in the world.
1. It’s Easy to Get Into
You don’t need to be born into it. You can learn to love the game just like we learned to love our first soccer ball. Soccer is like any sport in that there are rules and strategies that are used to win. It’s just like anything else. When you’re a beginner, you might not know all the rules. But once you become a regular player, you’ll pick up on all the nuances that will make you a better player.
And once you are in, the learning curve isn’t too steep. There are no major physical requirements at lower levels—you don’t have to be able to run fast, jump high, or run a marathon to compete as a beginner. It’s much more of a mental game, with a lot of strategy and decision-making. The basic soccer skills of dribbling, passing, and shooting the ball aren’t hard to learn. And the benefits of playing soccer are enormous. It’s a great activity for kids and adults of all ages, and it can help develop many important skills, such as teamwork, confidence, focus, and resilience.
2. There’s a Low Cost
To exaggerate, you don’t need any gear to play soccer. In many countries around the world, you can see boys and girls playing soccer bare feet with a ball that looks more like a balloon.
For those of us that live in the western world, this might not be how things work. There is, however, not much gear that is needed to play. You need comfortable clothes to play in, a pair of soccer cleats and some shin guards. That’s it! If you search a bit on the online stores you will find that you can get everything for under $100. Maybe even way under.
3. It’s a Great Way to Stay Fit
Soccer is a fun game that has many health benefits. It’s a fast-paced sport that makes you burn lots of calories, and it’s one of the best ways to stay fit. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, soccer is one of the best activities to lose weight.
One thing people often don’t realize is that losing weight isn’t the only benefit of playing soccer. If you play soccer for a long enough period of time, you will get strong and become much more coordinated. Plus, you will have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, and improved circulation. All these things will help you to have a longer and healthier life.
Another thing is that soccer teaches you discipline. You have to be focused for 90 minutes on the field. If you are not, you could end up getting injured. In addition, if you do not perform well enough to keep yourself in the game, you might get ridiculed by your teammates. That will teach you discipline. If you want to have self-discipline, you need to make it a priority to develop it. You can start by doing something as simple as playing soccer for fun.
4. It’s an International Sport
As said, soccer is the most popular team sport in the world. The game is played in over 200 countries and territories. The world governing body, FIFA, sanctions competitions around the world. Millions of people play soccer in the U.S. alone. More than 3 billion people in more than 200 countries watch the game on television. The World Cup is the most-watched sporting event in the world. Soccer is big business.
Soccer is popular on every continent in the world. Actually, the US is one of the few countries that has another sport as its most popular.
5. You Can Learn the Basics in No Time
Soccer is a sport that on the surface has extremely easy rules. If you are just starting out playing with your friends in the park, these are the rules you must know before your first try:
- With the exception of the goalkeepers, players can only use their feet
- The team that puts the ball in the opponents net the most times, wins
- If a player is fouled, his team will be given a free-kick
- If one team kicks the ball out of the field, the other team will start with a throw in, a goal kick or a corner kick
That is basically all you have to know! The rest you will understand while playing.
6. You Don’t Need to Be an Elite Player to Enjoy It
If you’ve been paying attention to the English Premier League, you might think that soccer is only played by rich, tall, good looking men who run about on fields in shorts and shirts emblazoned with the names of famous teams. The reality is, most soccer players don’t have fancy jobs or have any kind of athletic prowess—they play because they love it, they’re passionate about the game and they want to be part of something that brings people together. Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world, with billions of fans worldwide. It is played by people of all ages, ethnicities, and socio-economic backgrounds and no matter what your skill level, there is a soccer team for you.
7. It’s Popular Among Both Male and Female
It’s no surprise that women love soccer. After all, soccer is a sport where females get to show off their feminine qualities such as athleticism, endurance, and grace. It’s also a sport that involves teamwork and camaraderie. And then there’s the game itself: soccer is fast-paced, full of action, and involves a lot of skill and coordination. Not to mention it can be played indoors or outdoors, which gives it the versatility of being able to take place anywhere and at any time of year.
8. It’s Competitive
As with any sport, the competition is at the heart of soccer. Every time a team or a player steps out on the pitch they do their best to win.
The nice thing about soccer is that you can compete together with your friends. This team feeling is one of the factors that makes so many people love the game.
Once you get a bit better, you start to compete more with yourself. Every day, you want to improve a little bit. Competing in this way is one of the most valuable lessons to take from playing soccer as it can be transferred to many different areas of your life.
9. It Has a High Skills Requirement
As mentioned earlier, everyone can play soccer. It does not require you to be a great player from the start.
However, once you move up a level or two you will start to understand that there is almost an endless stream of skills that you can master. At the top level, the skills requirements is huge. This makes the game exiting in many different ways. Whether you are just starting out and has to learn how to kick a ball or you have been playing for years and need to be better at exploiting spaces, pressing as a team or working with the four moments in soccer, there are always some skills you can improve. Soccer is one of those games that takes a second to learn and a lifetime to master.
10. It’s Safe for Players and Not Overly-Violent
Compared to football and hockey, soccer is a very low-violent game. Of course, every player can get injured, but the very serious injuries seldom occur. I have been playing and coaching soccer for all my life, and I can’t remember having seen a really bad injury ever.
Also, there is a lot more focus on going out on the field to show and improve your skills rather than having focus on going out to fight with your opponents.
11. The Results are Not Given Before Matches
In some sports you know who will win before a game starts. This is not the case in soccer. This research paper shows that compared to other popular sports in the US, soccer has the highest frequency of surprising results.
- Soccer – English Premier League – 45.9% chance of a surprise
- Baseball – MLB – 41.3%
- Hockey – NHL – 38.3%
- Basketball – NBA – 31.6%
- Football – NFL – 30.9%
For me this makes soccer a lot more interesting when i don’t know the result before a game.
12. It’s Great to Enjoy With Family and Friends
As with any sport, watching and playing soccer can, and should, be enjoyed in company of friends and family. Either playing together in games or huddling up in the sofa to watch the exciting last game of the playoffs. Although no. 17 on this list, for me this is the no. 1 reason why soccer is the most popular game in the world.
Conclusion
These are just some answers to: “Why is soccer so popular?”. There are probably hundreds more reasons if you ask people from different parts of the world. One thing is for sure though: Soccer is the most popular sport in the world!
If you want to learn more about this fantastic game, I recommend reading a few more of my posts on this site. If you are a youth coach I would start with my article How to be a good youth soccer coach. After you might want to read about 5v5 soccer formations or 7v7 soccer formations, depending on what team you are coaching.
