The Top 10 Biggest Sports Events Worldwide – Ranking by Audience Stats
There are some sports events you just can’t miss – but which ones are the most popular? The Sporting Blog tells all…
MVP Julian Edelman after winning Super Bowl LIII with the Patriots. Image credits: USA Today
Let’s take a look at the latest audience metrics to list the top 10 biggest sports events for fans across the world. How many people watched the FIFA World Cup in 2022? How many fans tune in for the Super Bowl each year? Find out now!
1. FIFA World Cup
Nothing matches the FIFA World Cup for global reach. FIFA’s official post-Qatar analysis reported that the 2022 final achieved a global reach of close to 1.5 billion viewers, with the tournament engaging around 5 billion people across platforms.
The final was the most-watched game in World Cup history, exceeding the 2018 decider between France and Croatia. These figures, coming from FIFA’s own audience report pages, confirm football’s unrivalled footprint on a single-event basis.
Read all our soccer articles on our football blog!
2. Summer Olympic Games
The IOC’s Tokyo 2020 audience release states that more than 3 billion people watched the Summer Olympics across linear TV and digital platforms. The IOC marketing fact file consolidates this at 3.05 billion unique viewers.
In many countries, the Olympics opening ceremony becomes the most-watched broadcast of the year. However, even without ceremony-specific numbers, the Games’ verified global reach puts them near the top for any sports property.
3. ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup
Cricket’s global audience has become enormous, particularly in India. The ICC’s post-event wrap on the 2023 tournament achieved record peaks on streaming, including a 59 million peak concurrent for the India vs Australia final.
Reuters reported that Disney’s Indian TV channels reached 518 million viewers in India during the 48-day event, illustrating the scale of the World Cup’s domestic TV audience.
4. UEFA European Championship
UEFA’s tournament summary for EURO 2024 points to a staggering cumulative live global TV audience of 5.4 billion, emphasising the breadth of viewers across markets.
While cumulative figures are not the same as a single match average, the championship final and latter knockout rounds draw very large global audiences.
The scale across 51 matches reliably places UEFA’s European Championship among the most consumed events worldwide.
5. Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the largest annual TV event in the United States – and it posts world-class single-game numbers. Nielsen reported that Super Bowl LIX averaged 127.7 million viewers across platforms, the biggest audience in US history for a single telecast.
Multiple major outlets corroborated the figure and noted its record status, underscoring that even a domestic championship can rank among the planet’s most-watched sports events.
For more American football profiles, interviews and top 10 lists, check out our NFL blog
6. UEFA Champions League Final
The Champions League final is the most-watched annual club football match in the world. Estimates vary by year and methodology, but reliable roundups place recent finals in the low-hundreds of millions globally.
Viewership fluctuated roughly between 49 million and 106 million through the late 2010s and early 2020s, while current season write-ups put global reach at over 100 million.
Year-to-year variance is normal, but the event still remains a top draw for international audiences.
7. Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup 2023 set all-time records for the sport. The tournament delivered 1.33 billion viewing hours worldwide, according to both the governing body’s impact study and a write-up by Reuters.
Viewership concentration in France and other core rugby markets was exceptional, and the event’s free-to-air strategy in many territories ensured wide access. On a cumulative basis, rugby’s showpiece comfortably sits among the most-watched global tournaments ever.
8. Tour de France
The Tour de France is a rare month-long event that accumulates huge live viewing across daily stages. Official materials from A.S.O. and associated media packs report that the 2024 race was watched by an estimated 150 million people in Europe, including more than 40 million in France.
A 2025 A.S.O. factsheet again highlights almost 150 million European viewers and expanding digital audiences. The Tour’s daily appointment viewing and free-to-air presence keep it among the world’s most consumed annual sports properties.
9. Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final
The Wimbledon Men’s Singles final ranks as one of the most-watched annual matches in the sport. Wimbledon’s official site and industry coverage reported that the 2025 Men’s Singles final peaked at 8.8 million across TV and online in the UK alone, with 8.3 million on BBC One.
Global totals are even higher once other markets are included, so the fight for Wimbledon’s iconic trophy remains a dependable mass-audience moment each July.
10. Formula 1 Season
Although a single F1 Grand Prix rarely matches a World Cup final, the cumulative audience across a season is vast. Formula 1’s official communications in late 2024 cited a TV audience of about 1.5 billion, and multiple business outlets have since referenced growth of roughly 1.6 billion across 2024.
TV audiences continue to rise across key markets, reinforcing F1’s status as the world’s most-watched annual motorsport property when considering an entire season.
Looking for more? Check out our article about the sports with the most prize money!
The Biggest Sports Events in the World
Across single-match spectacles and month-long festivals, the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics anchor the global leaderboard for raw reach, while the Cricket World Cup and the UEFA European Championship show how regional passion can scale to massive worldwide audiences.
The Super Bowl proves that a domestic event can still post global-class numbers, and the Champions League final remains the club match most likely to attract nine-figure audiences.
Rugby’s World Cup, the Tour de France, Wimbledon and Formula 1 each demonstrate different paths to mass attention, whether through cumulative stage-by-stage viewing, appointment finals or season-long consistency.
With viewing numbers regularly reaching the billions, it’s no wonder brands are paying big for sponsorship deals!
