Out of all of the hundreds of sports all over the world, there is no doubt that football is most likely the most popular one. In fact, football has a huge following in Europe, with 131 million fans in the big five European markets (Spain, Italy, Germany, U.K. and France). Whether it is watching a game of football or playing it, people are always somewhat immersed in the sport. In this context, it is worth exploring why football is so popular and questioning whether it will continue to be so.
Betting
Firstly, the UK is well known for its association with football, however their neighbours Ireland aren’t as popular due to their lack of participation in events such as the World Cup / Euro’s. However, the Irish can still place bets online on the football tournaments and make watching football even more exciting. Not only is this a good way to inject fun into the act of watching a football game, but it means that football fans can be in for the chance of winning a lucrative payout. People can bet on loads of different things including betting on the spread in a variety of ways: betting against the spread, betting the spread, point spread betting, or simply ATS (against the spread).
Football Tournaments
Furthermore, another reason why football is so popular across the world is due to the various events and tournaments that are held. In other regions such as Europe and western countries such as Canada and the USA football is also growing in popularity as a sport and has in fact hosted the World Cup in 2026. And more than half (52%) of people in Russia, the 2018 FIFA World Cup host country, are interested in the sport. The FIFA World Cup held every four years has a huge TV audience with over 30 billion people watched the 2006 World Cup in Germany. These events are a good chance for people to gather to discuss their favourite teams, players and tactics going forward.
Cost
Moreover, in comparison to other sports football is not expensive. In terms of playing the game you will simply need a ball and goalposts. If you are wanting to watch a football game, there are also many accessible ways of doing so. Football streaming websites are making it possible for people to watch foreign football leagues in real-time. Furthermore, football games do not charge extortionate prices for people to watch a game unless they are seeking VIP tickets which is usually a significantly larger amount than the rest. This has been instrumental in creating passionate fans who are dedicating to following the game.
Weather
In addition to this, football is so popular because it can be played in a variety of conditions unlike many other sports which have to be played with specific requirements. For example, in the case of heavy rain it can be still played as well as heavy snow. This means that there will rarely be an occasion when you will miss your favourite sport being played. On top of this, unlike many other sports like cricket which is most often played in areas like the UK and Commonwealth, football is played all over the world. In official terms, FIFA has 211 member nations in six regions, and it permits every continent in the world to participate in a FIFA World Cup qualification game.
Time
Another reason for football being such a popular activity is the fact that it is not a time consuming activity to either watch or play. A typical football match lasts around 90 minutes which compares to baseball games which last around 3-4 hours. Furthermore, even if you miss a football match, there are plenty of opportunities to catch up with what occurred during it by either rewatching it or keeping up to date with notifications. Football matches can also be a great opportunity for socialisation as people often gather in groups to watch it and can even schedule events around it such as a BBQ.
Social
Furthermore, with football there are opportunities to have various teams including universities, colleges and places of work. On top of this, football is one game that doesn’t have an age limit unlike many other sports. This means that it is an accommodating sport for everyone where children and adults can enjoy football together. For example, according to the NFL policy, to become a player you need to have left high school 3 years back. And in the NBA, you must have left high school a year before to be able to join the sport. However, with football, there are no such limitations and it has tournaments for young players like the under 17.
In summary, to this day football remains to be the most popular sport in the world. With more and more people able to play and watch football, the word has spread about the game and it has caused a ripple effect. As football is easily accessible, isn’t an expensive sport to watch or play, can be played in various teams and watched in various tournaments and events in the future it is predicted that the popularity of the sport will continue to rise. With more and more people becoming invested in the sport, there should be even more opportunities to play and watch the sport in the future.
