Top Ten Sports

These are the top ten sports in the world from the lowest to highest, according to number of fans. Seems it is not the age of the sport, but the sport itself that makes it popular.

• American Football, # of fans: 400 million (began 1800s)
  
• Basketball,  # of fans: 400 million (began late 1800s)
  
• Golf,  # of fans: 450 million (began 1400s)
  
• Baseball,  # of fans: 500 million (began late 1800s)
  
• Table Tennis,  # of fans: 850 million (began 1900s)
  
• Volleyball,  # of fans: 900 million (began late 1800s)
  
• Tennis,  # of fans: 1 billion (began in 1300s)
  
• Field Hockey,  # of fans: 2 billion (began 3rd century BC)
  
• Cricket,  # of fans: 2.5 billion (began 1600s)
  
• Soccer,  # of fans: 3.5 billion (began 200s BC)

Soccer

Soccer is the national sport of Greenland, but Greenland is not a member of FIFA. Greenland cannot grow or support a grass field, due to its harsh climate. All soccer matches in Greenland are played on artificial turf.

A grass field is a requirement of FIFA, but FIFA's recent approval of FieldTurf may allow Greenland to create FIFA-standard playing pitches and apply to play full internationals.