If sports were a language, soccer would be the most universal.

Soccer is ranked as having 3.5 billion fans from across the world, according to worldatlas.com. There are 10 ranks of different sports that are very diverse–everything from cricket to rugby–but soccer is, by far, the most common. Looking at individual countries, however, changes that dynamic. Here in the U.S., for instance, most common is American football, basketball, and then soccer. Despite football having over 188.4 million U.S. fans, it not as widely popular in other countries.

EHS Senior Giselle Raya-Morales believes she knows the answer why. “Football is only common in the USA because it spread here from England, and other countries didn’t really pick it up.” Explaining why it has continued to take root here, she adds, “The U.S. made it patriotic and created major events like the Super Bowl to celebrate their sport.” 

Fellow Senior, Jessica Ponce, counters this, noting why soccer has spread across the globe. “I think soccer is more famous than others because there is a World Cup with multiple countries playing against each other to win.” Not everyone, however, agrees that soccer is the only notable worldwide sport. “I think swimming is very common worldwide,” asserts Sophomore Alexus Elion, “because most places have somewhere to swim–and it is an Olympic sport!”

Whether it’s basketball, soccer, football, hockey, or any other sport, countries around the world will have fans to follow it. Thus, while soccer holds as the top-ranked and most popular sport worldwide, there is room on the bench for all.