This article may be confusing or unclear to readers.(June 2010) |
This is a list of professional sports leagues.
A sports league is a professional body that governs the competition of its teams.[ clarification needed ] They make the rules for competition and behavior and disciplines its members as necessary. This is done through a structure that varies by league. Some are made up of a board of governors that have a commissioner or president, while others are single entity organizations where the league owns the franchises and therefore does not have a board of governors.[ clarification needed ]
This list attempts to show those sports leagues for which all players and teams are paid to play. In other words, these players can be considered to play their chosen sport as their profession. Some leagues do not pay well enough to allow players to use them as their primary or only source of income, but because the players are paid, it is still considered professional, or semi-professional. As such, some leagues listed here may not be fully professional.
England
India
Indonesia
Russia
Sweden
United States , Canada , Cuba , Venezuela , and Argentina
Ireland
Australia , New Zealand and South Korea
Japan , South Korea and Taiwan
Major promotions
Major sanctioning bodies
Philippines
India
England
Scotland
Ireland
Australia
New Zealand
United States
India
Italy
Austria
Belarus
Brazil
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Czech Republic
China
Germany
France
Italy
Latvia
Malaysia
Myanmar
Serbia
Poland
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Russia
United States
Includes American and Canadian Football and their variants.
United States
Brazil
Canada
Mexico
Europe
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
UK
China
Japan
Australia
Intercontinental
Africa
Americas
Asia-Pacific
Europe
Pro clubs in an amateur league
Canada and United States
Canada only
United States only
Mexico
Japan, South Korea, and Russia
Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Italy
France
Germany
Netherlands and Belgium
Poland
Romania
Russia, Belarus, China, Finland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Slovakia
Russia only
Slovenia
Sweden
United Kingdom ( England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland)
Australia
New Zealand
International Tournaments
Kabaddi Leagues
United States and Canada
This section's factual accuracy is disputed .(May 2012) |
United States
United States
United States
Turkey
Philippines
Southeast Asia
A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs.
Champions League is a sports competition, typically association football, that is contested by club teams who have distinguished themselves in their respective national competitions. The name originated with, and most often refers to, the UEFA Champions League. It may also refer to:
CCTV-5, also known as the Sports Channel, part of the China Central Television family of networks, is the main sports broadcaster in the People's Republic of China. CCTV-5 began broadcasting on 1 January 1995. CCTV-5 now broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Sport in Europe tends to be highly organized with many sports having professional leagues. The origins of many of the world's most popular sports today lie in the codification of many traditional games, especially in the United Kingdom. However, a paradoxical feature of European sport is the extent to which local, regional and national variations continue to exist, and even in some instances to predominate.
Sport in Croatia has significant role in Croatian culture, and many local sports clubs as well as the Croatian national squads enjoy strong followings in the country. The most enduring sport by far in Croatia is football, and is played on amateur and professional levels amongst all age groups across the entire country. Several other major team sports are handball, basketball and water polo, with clubs in all parts of Croatia. Ice hockey is another popular team sport, namely in the Croatian interior. The most popular individual sports in Croatia are tennis, alpine skiing, and swimming, and to some extent table tennis and chess. Various amateur sport games are popular in Croatia, notably picigin.
ESPN is the Brazilian division of ESPN Inc. Launched in March 1989 as Canal+, it was the first country-specific version of ESPN outside the United States, launched in June 1995. The channel has covered major sporting events, like the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympics; the 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 1999, 2003 and 2007 Pan-American Games. High ratings and prestige in the segment have been marks of the channel; it also won the APCA award twice, in 1995 for "Best Sports Programming" and in 1998 for "Best Coverage of the 1998 FIFA World Cup".
Sports broadcasting contracts in France include:
Sports broadcasting contracts in Germany include:
This page refers to sports broadcasting contracts in Romania. For a list of broadcasting rights in other countries, see Sports television broadcast contracts.
The Super League is the first tier of the British rugby league system.
2014 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions.
Sports broadcasting contracts in Greece include:
ESPN Caribbean is the local division of ESPN Inc., that broadcasts in most Caribbean countries. Operated as part of the ESPN International division, the service is composed of ESPN and ESPN2; both were launched in 2007.
The North American continent is the birthplace of several organized sports, such as basketball, charrería/rodeo, gridiron football, ice hockey, jaripeo/bull riding, lacrosse, ollamaliztl, mixed martial arts (MMA), racquetball, ultimate, and volleyball. The modern versions of baseball and softball, skateboarding, snowboarding, stock car racing, and surfing also developed in North America.
Sports broadcasting contracts in South Korea include:
ESPN Latin America is the Latin American division of ESPN Inc., and broadcasts sports-related programming for the region in Spanish. It was launched on 31 March 1989. Its programming is adapted to the likes of viewers, who tend to prefer football and Hispanic baseball players to the more locally produced programs.
The Liga de Futbol Americano Profesional, based in Mexico City, concluded its first season in April, and reports said attendance exceeded 5,000 fans per game for the inaugural four-team campaign.