Sport is considered a national pastimein Sweden, and about half of the population actively takes part in sports activities. The most important all-embracing organisations for sports in Sweden are the Swedish Sports Confederation, and the Swedish Olympic Committee. In total over 2 million people (about 20% of the total population) are members of a sports club.
The sports with most participants are football, floorball, equestrian sports, handball, golf, gymnastics and athletics, while the sports with the largest number of television spectators are football, ice hockey, handball, bandy, golf, motor sport (especially speedway and Formula 1) and athletics. Ice hockey and football are the main sports. Winter sports are also popular, both in the number of participants and in spectators, while floorball gained large popularity in the 1990s amongst participants, spectators grew in the last five years to outnumber other team sports amongst the spectators. Other popular sports include bandy, basketball, orienteering, tennis and table tennis. Except for basketball, the American sports have not gained much popularity, although American football and baseball are practised. The Canadian sport of ringette has attracted a following and continues to grow, but is not as popular as it is in Canada and Finland.
Sweden was considered in 2017 to be the fifth best per capita country in the world[1] and world-leading in two sports, bandy[2] and orienteering.[3] The very strong Swedish sport floorball was not a part of the list.
History
The Swedish sport movement can be traced back to the early 19th century and the Pehr Henrik Ling gymnastics, a recreational movement that would keep its position as the largest fitness activity in Sweden many years into the 20th century. It was also the main sport activity practiced in schools through half that century. The sport movement took its first steps in the 1880s and 1890s, when for example football, bandy and athletics took its first steps in Sweden towards becoming modern sports.
The first public orienteering competition in Sweden was held in 1981 (see history of orienteering). Today, orienteering is one of the most popular sports in Sweden, attracting more than 100,000 runners.[4]
Organization
Unlike the United States, organized sports even for younger people isn't connected to schools the same way. Also, many sports club in Sweden compete in more sports than one.[5]
Prominent athletes, teams and competitions
For an average sized nation, Sweden has top results in many different sports.
Bandy has a special status in Sweden, enjoying almost a cult following by some of its supporters. The annual national bandy championship final is a traditional event followed not only by the usual bandy fans. Sweden is one of the leading bandy playing nations, having won the Bandy World Championship a number of times and the Women's Bandy World Championship every time except one. It is also a big coach exporter. As of 2018 the national teams of China,[6]Slovakia,[7] the Netherlands,[8]Somalia[9] and Ukraine[10] all have Swedish leaders involved. There are more indoor venues than in all other countries combined. Bandy is a game belonging to the hockey family and played with a small ball and short curved sticks. In terms of licensed athletes, it is the second biggest winter sport in the world.[11]
Three Swedish Formula One drivers have collected wins: Ronnie Peterson, Jo Bonnier and Gunnar Nilsson. Peterson scored ten wins and was runner-up in the F1 World Championship in the 1971 and 1978 seasons.
Basketball has gained attention in Sweden through a series of internationally significant events. In 1999, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, one of the best basketball players in world history, bought the club M7 Borås and played several games there.
Later, several Swedish basketball teams competed at international tournaments.
Ten years after Magic Johnson's first games in Sweden, Jonas Jerebko became the first person born and raised in Sweden to play in the NBA. In 2012, Jeffery Taylor, the second Swedish player, followed. They both represented Sweden at the 2013 EuroBasket and secured a surprising victory against former champion Russia. Yet, they were not enough to help their country proceed from the preliminary round.
Both Jerebko and Taylor are sons of American basketball players who settled in Sweden after finishing their professional careers in the country, and Taylor left Sweden at age 17 to play both high school and college basketball in the U.S. Jerebko has played ten seasons in the NBA, first with the Detroit Pistons (2009–2015), Boston Celtics (2015–2017), Utah Jazz (2017-2018), and Golden State Warriors (2018-2019), where he made the 2019 NBA Finals with an injured Warriors team, but were defeated by the Toronto Raptors in six games. On August 14, 2019, Jerebko then signed with Khimki of the VTB United League and the EuroLeague.[12] But on January 23, 2021, Khimki terminated the contract of Jerebko.[13] Taylor played three seasons with the Charlotte Hornets (2012–2015) before returning to Europe and signing with Real Madrid. In May 2018, Real Madrid won the 2017–18 EuroLeague championship, after defeating Fenerbahçe Doğuş in the final game with 85–80.[14] Over 34 EuroLeague games, Taylor averaged 5.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.
"Swedish football" in the nineteenth century was a variant of association football with some rugby elements. By 1900, Swedish football clubs were using The Football Association's rules with no rugby influence. However, rugby union proper was introduced into Sweden between the world wars by visiting British vessels.
Rugby league
Rugby league is played at a local/amateur level, the sport has real promise of growth at a rapid pace in all Nordic countries. Sweden is currently ranked 31 on the RLIF rankings.
Electronic sports are also gaining momentum in Sweden since the launch of StarCraft II with Swedish national televisions covering Dreamhack events throughout the year. Notable names are Jonathan "Jinro" Walsh for his performances South Korea, and Marcus "Thorzain" Eklöf and Johan "NaNiwa" Lucchesi for being two of the top non-Korean players during 2011-2013.
Another sport growing in interest in Sweden is mixed martial arts. Arguably the most famous fighter out of Sweden is Alexander Gustafsson, who is rapidly approaching a title shot in the light heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As of December 2012, Gustafsson is ranked the #6 light heavyweight in the world by Sherdog.[17] He is headlining the UFC's next show in Sweden, UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Mousasi, which sold out in hours on the first day tickets were made available to the public.[18]
Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.
Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. It is played indoors with 96–115.5 cm-long (37.8–45.5 in) sticks and a 70–72 mm-diameter (2.76–2.83 in) plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods. The sport of bandy also played a role in the game's development.
Approximately 5 million of the 17 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35,000 sports clubs in the country. About two thirds of the population older than 15 years participates in sports weekly.
Sportin Lithuania is governed by the Physical Education and Sports Department following the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. The Lithuanian government established the department to manage physical education in the schools and sports administration in the country. Over the next few years, Lithuanian sports organizations established membership in international governing bodies. Lithuania participated in the Winter Olympics in Albertville and has participated in every Winter and Summer Olympics since.
Poland's sports include almost all sporting disciplines, in particular: football, volleyball, motorcycle speedway, ski jumping, track and field, handball, basketball, tennis, and combat sport. The first Polish Formula One driver, Robert Kubica, has brought awareness of Formula One Racing to Poland. Volleyball is one of the country's most popular sports, with a rich history of international competition. Poland has made a distinctive mark in motorcycle speedway racing thanks to Tomasz Gollob, Jaroslaw Hampel, Bartosz Zmarzlik, Maciej Janowski and Rune Holta. Speedway is very popular in Poland. They won the world cup (2014), and the Polish Extraleague has the highest average attendances for any sport in Poland. The Polish mountains are an ideal venue for hiking, skiing and mountain biking and attract millions of tourists every year from all over the world. Cross country skiing and ski jumping are popular TV sports, gathering 4–5 million viewers each competition, with Justyna Kowalczyk, Dawid Kubacki, Adam Małysz and Kamil Stoch as the main attractions. Baltic beaches and resorts are popular locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking and a broad-range of other water-themed sports.
Sportin Latvia includes basketball, football, ice hockey, athletics (track), rugby, tennis, cycling, and others. Ice hockey is the most popular of the Latvian sports and is closely followed by basketball. Some of Latvia's most notable athletes include hockey player Sandis Ozoliņš, football player Māris Verpakovskis, Olympic javelin thrower Jānis Lūsis, two-time Olympic BMX champion Maris Strombergs, and basketball player Kristaps Porziņģis. The national sport of Latvia is ice hockey.
Sport in New Zealand largely reflects the nation's colonial heritage, with some of the most popular sports being rugby union, rugby league, cricket, association football, basketball, horse racing and netball, which are primarily played in Commonwealth countries. New Zealand has enjoyed success in many sports, notably rugby union, rugby league, cricket, America's Cup sailing, world championship and Olympics events, and motorsport.
Henrik Olof Stenson is a Swedish professional golfer.
Kazakhstan's former long-term President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has challenged sports organizers to engage 30 percent of the country's population in sports. The state has numerous sports clubs where people participate in various types of sports; sport facilities are available to the general public. Kazakhstan currently hosts major international tournaments; Astana and Almaty hosted the VII Asian Winter Games 2011, which drew teams from 27 countries.
Sportin Germany is an important part of German culture and their society. In 2006 about 28 million people were members of the more than 87.000 sport clubs in Germany. Almost all sports clubs are represented by the German Olympic Sports Federation.
Sport is considered a national pastime in Finland and many Finns visit different sporting events regularly. Pesäpallo is the national sport of Finland, although the most popular forms of sport in terms of television viewers and media coverage are ice hockey and Formula One. In spectator attendance, harness racing comes right after ice hockey in popularity.
Sport in England plays a prominent role in English society. Popular teams sports in England include association football, cricket, field hockey, rugby union, rugby league, and netball. Major individual sports include badminton, athletics, tennis, boxing, golf, cycling, motorsport, and horseracing. Cricket is regarded as the national summer sport. Association football is the most popular sport, followed by cricket, tennis and rugby. A number of modern sports were codified in England during the nineteenth century, among them cricket, rugby union, rugby league, football, field hockey, bandy, squash, tennis, and badminton. The game of baseball was first described in 18th century England.
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.
Association Football is the most popular sport overall in Asia. Cricket is the second most popular sport in Asia, and is most popular in South Asia. Other popular sports in Asia include basketball, baseball, badminton and table tennis among others. There are also some traditional sports that are popular in certain regions of Asia, such as the South Asian sports kabaddi and kho-kho, and sepak takraw in Southeast Asia. Top sporting nations/regions in Asia include China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Sports in Portugal are important in Portuguese culture. High-profile, successful competitive athleticism and sportsmanship in Portugal can be traced back to the time of Ancient Rome. Gaius Appuleius Diocles was a noteworthy charioteer born in Lamego who became one of the most celebrated athletes in ancient history. He is often cited as the highest-paid athlete of all time. Football is the most popular sport in Portugal. Other than football, many other professional or semi-professional well organized sport competitions take place every season in Portugal, including basketball, swimming, athletics, tennis, gymnastics, futsal, rink hockey, team handball, volleyball, surfing, canoeing and rugby union championships among the hundreds of sports played in this country.
ČT Sport is a Czech national sports channel, operated by Czech Television.
Sports play a significant part in the life of many Czechs who are generally loyal supporters of their favourite teams or individuals.
In Switzerland, most of the people have a regular sport activity and one in four is an active member of a sports club. The most important all-embracing organisations for sports in Switzerland are the Federal Office of Sport, and the Swiss Olympic Committee.
Sport plays an important role in Estonian culture. Estonia first competed as a nation at the 1920 Summer Olympics, although the National Olympic Committee was established in 1923. Estonian athletes took part at every Olympic Games until the country was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. The 1980 Summer Olympics sailing regatta was held in the capital city Tallinn. Estonia has won most of its Olympic medals in wrestling, athletics, weightlifting, and cross-country skiing.
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