Here is our alphabetical list of over 800+ sports played around the world. In addition to individual sports, the list includes some names of sport groups, styles and codes. There is undoubtedly more sports than are listed here, there are many regional sports, modified rules and new sports being developed every day (see new sports).

The core of this list is the 200+ recognized sports with national or international federations. There is also a comprehensive list of team sports that are played around the world.

You can find even more sports described in the section about unusual sports, and there are plenty of sports that are no longer played, which we have listed as extinct sports.

How to get on this list? See What is a sport? If there is a sport not listed or incorrect, please send a comment. I have made a list of questionable sports, those that may or may not warrant inclusion on this list.

Below is a list of just the names of all the sports we are aware of with a very brief summary of each sport. Follow the links for a more detailed description of the sport. If you are on a desktop, you can try clicking CTRL-F on the keyboard and search just this page.

sports around the world sports around the world

Complete Sports List

  • 3D Archery — a form of archery in which the goal is to strike targets in the shape of animals at unknown distances.
  • 3x3 Basketball — a variation of basketball played on a half-court with just three players on each team.
  • 3x3 Ice Hockey — a variation of ice hockey played on a half rink with just three players on each team.
  • 7-a-side football — Association football for players with cerebral palsy.
  • Abseiling — an adventure sport where the participants descend a steep formation using a rope. (not really a sport).
  • Acrobatic Gymnastics — team of gymnasts work together to perform acrobatic moves in combination with dance moves.
  • Acroski — athletes on snow skis perform various choreographed routines (once called Ski Ballet).
  • Adventure Racing — an event combining two or more endurance disciplines, such as Orienteering, Cross-Country Running, Mountain Biking, Paddling and Climbing. It is also called Expedition Racing.
  • Aerials — a freestyle skiing discipline in which athletes ski along a take-off ramp, then perform various in-air tricks.
  • Aerobatics — sport aerobatics involves aircraft maneuvers such as rolls, loops, stall turns (hammerheads), and tailslides.
  • Aesthetic Group Gymnastics — a team sport where a large group of gymnasts perform coordinated continuous movements.
  • Aerobic Gymnastics — another name for Sport Aerobics.
  • Aeromodeling — activity using remotely controlled flying model aircraft (not really a sport).
  • Aeronautical Pentathlon — despite the name, the sport has 6 events: shooting, fencing, orienteering, basketball skills, obstacle course and swimming.
  • AFL Wheelchair — a wheelchair version of the football code from Australia, played between two teams of five players.
  • AFLX — a new version of Australian Football played on a rectangular field with seven players on each team, created to showcase some of the most thrilling elements of the sport to attract new fans.
  • Aggressive Inline Skating — Aggressive inline skating is a form of inline skating executed on specially designed inline skates with a focus on grinding and spins.
  • Aikido — Shodokan Aikido (also called Sport Aikido) is a Japanese martial art which typically involve throws, joint locks, and pins, designed to redirect an attacker's energy and neutralize their attack.
  • Air Badminton — an outdoor version of badminton using a heavier shuttle that flies better in the wind.
  • Air Hockey — played on an air-hockey table, participants try to hit a puck elevated on a cushion of air into the opponent's goal.
  • Air Racing — a sport involving flying airplanes over a fixed course low to the ground.
  • Airsoft — a skirmish sport in which participants eliminate opponents by hitting them with spherical non-metallic pellets from replica firearms. Similar sports are Laser Tag and Paintball.
  • All-Terrain Boarding — another name for Mountainboarding.
  • Alpine Skiing — commonly known as Downhill Skiing, involves racing down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. There are alpine skiing competitions in disciplines such as slalom, giant slalom, super giant slalom, and downhill.
  • Alpinism — the sport of mountain climbing.
  • American Football — a team sport played on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. Each team attempts to advance an oval ball down the field into the end zone by running or passing it. It is also known in some parts of the world (outside of the US) as Gridiron. In the US it is referred to simply as football. Variations include Arena Football, 6-Man Football.
  • American Handball — players use their hands to hit a small rubber ball against a wall. There are three versions (four-wall handball, three-wall handball and one-wall handball) that can each be played by either two, three or four players. It can be compared to squash without rackets. It is very different from the Olympic sport of (Team) Handball.
  • Amputee Football — a version of Association Football for players with lower extremity amputations.
  • Angling — often used to refer to fishing, it is the principal method of sport fishing.
  • Aquabike — a variation of Triathlon, with no running leg. Athletes swim followed by cycling.
  • Aquajogging — water running competitions, athletes race in the water while maintaining an upright position.
  • Aquathlon (1) — an underwater sport where two competitors wearing masks and fins wrestle underwater in an attempt to remove a ribbon from each other's ankle band. It is also known as Underwater Wrestling.
  • Aquathlon (2) — a continuous race involving swimming followed by running. It is usually over a shorter distance than the similar Biathle.
  • Archery — competitive archery involves shooting arrows at a target for accuracy from a set distance or distances. The main forms of archery are Target Archery and Field Archery, and others include Clout Archery, 3D archery, Crossbow Archery, Flight Archery, and Ski Archery.
  • Arena Football — a variety of American Football (Gridiron), played indoors on a smaller field resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game.
  • Arena Polo — a minified version of polo that is played on horseback on a field much smaller in size and enclosed by walls on all sides.
  • Arena Rugby — a variation of Rugby Union, played indoors on a smaller field resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game.
  • Arm Wrestling — a type of Wrestling where each participant place one elbow on a surface while gripping the other participant's hand. The aim is to pin the other's arm onto the surface.
  • Arnis — the national martial art sport of the Philippines which emphasizes weapon-based fighting.
  • Artistic Billiards — a Carom Billiards discipline in which players score points for performing 76 preset shots of varying difficulty. It is sometimes called fantasy billiards.
  • Artistic Cycling — a form of competitive indoor cycling in which athletes perform tricks for points on specialized, fixed-gear bikes in a format similar to ballet or gymnastics.
  • Artistic Gymnastics — an Olympic sport where gymnasts perform short routines on different apparatus, such as the Vault, Floor (men and women), Pommel Horse, Rings, Parallel Bars, High Bar (men), and Uneven Bars, Balance Beam (women).
  • Artistic Pool — a trick shot competition on a pocket billiards table in which players score points for performing 56 preset shots of varying difficulty.
  • Artistic Roller Skating — is a sport that consists of a number of events (Figures, Dance, Freestyle and Precision Teams) usually accomplished on quad skates, though sometimes inline skates are used.
  • Association Croquet — an advanced game of Croquet played at the international level involving four balls teamed in pairs, with both balls going through every hoop for one pair to win.
  • Association Football — more commonly known as Football or Soccer. It is the world's most popular sport, played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. The game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object is to score by using any part of the body except the arms and hands to get the ball into the opposing goal.
  • Athletics — commonly known as Track and Field, though it is an umbrella sport, which in addition to Track and Field it also comprises Cross Country Running, Road Running and Racewalking.
  • Australian Football — a fast-paced football code from Australia, played between two teams of eighteen players on a large oval field. Six points are scored by kicking the ball between two tall goalposts, or one point for passing the ball on either side of these. Alternative names are Australian Football, Aussie Rules, AFL, Australian Rules Football.
  • Australian Handball — players use their hands to hit a ball against one or two walls. It's similar to squash, though played without a racquet.
  • Auto Race — a Japanese motorcycle speedway competition which is held on tarmac tracks, predominantly a gambling sport.
  • Auto Racing — a sport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. There are numerous different categories including Formula 1, Touring Car, Rally Cars, Drag Racing, Stock Car Racing, Vintage Racing. Also known as Car Racing, Motor Racing or Automobile Racing.
  • Autocross — a type of Auto Racing in which drivers navigate one at a time through a defined course on either a sealed or an unsealed surface in the shortest time. See also the motorcycle version, Motorcycle Gymkhana.
  • Autograss — a type of Auto Racing on natural surfaces such as grass or mud, usually held on quarter-mile oval tracks.
  • Autospeedway — a motorsport similar to motorcycle speedway, but with cars.
  • Axe Throwing — competitors throw axes at a circular target.

B Sports

  • Backstroke — a swimming stroke performed on the back with the arms lifted alternately out of the water in a backward circular motion and the legs extended and kicking.
  • Badminton — an indoor game with rackets in which a shuttlecock is hit back and forth across a net.
  • Balance Beam — a female Olympic Games gymnastics event in which a gymnast balances on a narrow horizontal bar raised off the floor, while performing exercises.
  • Balkline — a Carom Billiards discipline. A point is scored each time a player's cue ball makes contact with both object balls on a single stroke. It is played on a pocketless table that is divided by balklines on the cloth marking playing regions. Its precursor was a game called Straight Rail.
  • Ball Badminton — a racket game native to India, played with a yellow ball made of wool, with similarities to Badminton.
  • Ball Hockey — a variation of Ice Hockey, a lot like Street Hockey, in which the game is played on foot on a non-ice surface, and a ball is used instead of a hockey puck.
  • Ballooning — competitive hot air ballooning is a test of accuracy, not speed. The aim is to fly as close as possible to a target and drop a weighted marker.
  • Bandy — a team sport played on ice using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal, a precursor to ice hockey. A variation is Rink Bandy.
  • Banger Racing — racing event which is done on a dirt track using scrap cars.
  • Banzai Skydiving — a form of skydiving in which the diver throws their parachute out the airplane door, waits and then jumps after it.
  • Barefoot Skiing — involves skiing barefoot on water without the use of water skis.
  • Bare-knuckle boxing — two individuals participate to fight against each other without using boxing gloves or any other type of padding on their hands. Also called Fisticuffs.
  • Barrel Racing — a rodeo event where participants and horses complete a clover-leaf pattern around barrels.
  • Baseball — a bat and ball game in which the aim is to hit the ball and score runs by running around four bases.
  • Baseball5 — five-on-five, five-inning street version of the game of Baseball/Softball that can be played anywhere
  • BASE Jumping — involves parachuting from a structure or cliff, with competitions based on landing accuracy.
  • Basketball — players attempt to shoot the ball through the hoop on the opponent's court, moving the ball by throwing and dribbling.
basketball game basketball game

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