While more than 40% of Europeans engage in sports activities more or less regularly, the 2018 Eurobarometer study also revealed that 46% of Europeans never play sports, an increase of 4% since the previous survey conducted in 2012. Therefore, both at the national and European levels, policies are being implemented to promote sports. The European Week of Sport, which takes place every year starting from September 23, is part of this initiative.
Europeans, fans of team sports
Besides football, other team sports are very popular in Europe, most of them gaining in fame and financial significance.
This is the case with rugby, a sport derived from football, played by an increasing number of Europeans. Indeed, while the British nations, France, and Italy are the most renowned as participants in the Six Nations Tournament, other countries have seen their performances improve over the years. Among these are Romania and, to a lesser extent, Germany, Spain, and Portugal.
Handball also tends to become a major sport in many European countries. Thanks to excellent results at the global level, it is thus one of the unmissable sports disciplines in France, Spain, and Germany. Some “smaller” countries have also specialized in this sport, like Croatia, Denmark, and Sweden, to the point of rivaling football in popularity.
Preferences influenced by geography and climate
Naturally, Europeans’ preferences in terms of sports are influenced by their environment. This is particularly true when it comes to snow or ice sports.
In alpine skiing, both at the professional and amateur levels, it is the Austrians, Germans, French, and Italians (along with the Swiss) who achieve the best results in Europe and who practice the most privately. The same goes for Nordic skiing, whose disciplines are extremely popular in Sweden and Finland. In this field, many Estonians also practice this sport, especially in cross-country skiing marathons, which often gather several thousand people.
Ice hockey, a true institution in several northern and eastern European countries, is no exception. The best European nations are Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. The national teams of these countries often compete with Russia, Canada, and the United States on the global stage, while this sport is also frequently played by young people and amateurs in general.
