Canada Sports – The 15 Most Popular Sports in Canada

The Most Popular Canadian Sports

Find below Canada national sports, ranked by popularity:

So there you have them, the most popular Canadian sports! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in Canada.

What is the National Sport of Canada?

The national sports of Canada are Ice hockey and Lacrosse. And yes, both of them! Canada is the only country in the world to have 2 official national sports. Lacrosse is the official summer sport of the country, while ice hockey is the official winter sport.

While there was a myth saying that Lacrosse was the national sport of Canada, no real law was enacted. Decades later, the Parliament voted to keep Lacrosse as the national sport but added ice hockey to it.

Learn More About Canada Popular Sports

Canada is the second biggest country on the planet. It is made of ten provinces and three territories and reaches the Atlantic, the Arctic, and the Pacific Ocean. It is only bordered by the United States, and the two countries share the world’s longest border. While its largest city (and arguably most famous one) is Toronto, its capital city is Ottawa, which counts more than 934,000 inhabitants (but more than 1,476,000 if you include the metropolitan area).

An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its most popular sports. In light of that, I have listed all Canada popular sports, and I hope you will love them:

Ice hockey

The most popular sport in Canada is, by far and away, ice hockey. Everyone considers Canada to be the home of ice hockey, and for good reasons. Not only did the sport take its roots in the country, but it is also the official sport of Canada for winter, and the national team and clubs are… pretty good.

The National Hockey League, or NHL, is established both in the United States and in Canada, and the latter has 7 teams in it.

Number of Ice hockey licensed players in Canada: 607,591

Famous Canadian Ice hockey players: Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Sidney Crosby, Joe Sakic, Maurice Richard, Mark Messier, Guy Lafleur, Phil Esposito, Bobby Hull, Jarome Iginla, Raymond Bourque, Bobby Orr, Brendan Shanahan, Joe Thornton

Lacrosse

The second most popular sport in Canada is lacrosse. Lacrosse is Canada’s official summer sport. It is played with a stick and a ball, and the goal of the game is for players to pass the ball, hold it in the net at the top of the stick, and shoot it at the opposing team’s goal.

There are 2 professional lacrosse leagues in Canada: the National Lacrosse League and the Major League Lacrosse.

Number of Lacrosse licensed players in Canada: more than 100,000

Famous Canadian Lacrosse players: Dr. George Beers, Gaylord Powless, Jack Bionda, William ‘Billy’ Fitzgerald, Ike Hildebrand, Bill Isaacs, Patrick ‘Joe’ Lally, Jack Laviolette

Football

The third most popular sport in Canada is football. While football, or soccer, is not the number one sport in Canada, it is definitely on the rise. The most popular sport on the planet is starting to explode in Canada, even though the sport has been there since the first game, in Toronto, in 1876.

The major Canadian pride when it comes to soccer is its women’s team, which performed fantastically in many tournaments including the 2012 London Olympic Games. They placed 3rd after a contested semi-final against the United States.

Number of Football licensed players in Canada: 1,000,000

Famous Canadian Football players: Alphonso Davies, Junior Hoilett, Dwayne De Rosario, Julián de Guzmán, Scott Arfield, Craig Forrest, Paul Stalteri, Alex Bunbury, Randy Samuel

Baseball

The fourth biggest sport in Canada is baseball. The American sport by excellence is also present in Canada. Baseball gathers a solid fanbase as well as a player base, and it has been played for decades. In fact, the oldest baseball park in the world is located in Ontario, and it is still in operation. It is called Labatt Park.

The governing body of baseball in Canada is Baseball Canada, which is based in the capital city of Ottawa. There are several independent league teams in the country, and they take part in the Can-Am League as well as the American Association.

Famous Canadian Baseball players: Joey Votto, Ferguson Jenkins, Larry Walker, Justin Morneau, Matt Stairs, Jason Bay, John Axford, Terry Puhl, George Selkirk, John Hiller

Canadian football

The fifth most famous sport in Canada is Canadian football. Canada has its own variant of American football. Canadian football is very similar to American football, but a few differences remain. The sport has its roots in rugby football since the beginning of the 1960s and developed its own identity over time. Now, it is one of the top sports in Canada, and it is very often played between high school, university, and college teams.

The national league is the Canadian Football League, and it is the only professional league for the sport in Canada. It has 9 teams.

Famous Canadian Canadian football players: Dane Evans, David Ungerer, Nikola Kalinic, Ted Laurent DT, Anthony Calvillo, Mike Pringle, George Dixon, Stefan Charles, Nigel Romick

Cricket

The sixth Canada’s favorite sport is cricket. While Canada is not sanctioned to play the highest level of the game, test cricket, it still takes part in One Day International Matches. Most notoriously, its women’s team is one of the most competitive ones on the planet, and its U-19 team has taken part in 3 World Cup events.

Cricket in Canada is overseen by Cricket Canada, which was founded in 1892. The first cricket game ever was played between Canada and the United States, in 1844. It was also the first official international game of any sport.

Famous Canadian Cricket players: Geoff Barnett, Timothy Bevington, Tom Brierley, Pubudu Dassanayake, Ganesh Mahabir, Brian Rajadurai, Basil Robinson, Walter Wright, Robert Wilson

Tennis

The seventh most popular sport in Canada is tennis. Tennis is mostly a casual sport in Canada, but the country has produced several international stars, like Milos Raonic, who is widely regarded as one of the most successful Canadian male players in history, and peaked at #3 in the world, in 2016. On top of this, he also reached the French Open quarterfinals, the Australian Open semifinals, and the Wimbledon final, making history yet again.

The largest Canadian tennis tournament is the Canadian Open or Rogers Cup, and it is the second oldest tournament after Wimbledon.

Number of Tennis licensed players in Canada: 6,547,000 (includes casual players)

Famous Canadian Tennis players: Eugenie Bouchard, Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic, Bianca Andreescu, Vasek Pospisil, Félix Auger-Aliassime, Gabriela Dabrowski, Mary Pierce, Greg Rusedski

Rugby union

The eighth most popular sport in Canada is rugby union. Rugby union has a long history in Canada. It was possibly introduced to the country by the Royal Navy in 1823. After that, it quickly disappeared, before being re-introduced by the creation of the national team, as well as the beginning of the domestic competition.

Now, the Canadian Rugby Championship has been the most important domestic rugby union competition since 2009. The national rugby union team has beaten great teams like Scotland and Wales but still struggles with its rivalry with the United States.

Number of Rugby union licensed players in Canada: 28,966

Famous Canadian Rugby union players: Djustice Sears-Duru, Lucas Rumball, Matt Heaton, Ben LeSage, Pat Parfrey, Kyle Baillie, Conor Keys, Matt Tierney, Jake Ilnicki, Eric Howard

Basketball

The ninth most popular sport in Canada is basketball. The inventor of basketball was Canadian. Sufficient to say that the sport has very strong roots in the country, and will probably always have.

Basketball is largely played in high schools and colleges, especially in Nova Scotia. In fact, this region is home to 3 very strong and famous college basketball programs: Saint Mary’s University, Saint Francis Xavier University, and Acadia University.

The first-ever NBA game was between the New York Knickerbockers and the Toronto Huskies, in 1946. Basically, Canada is at the origin of many sports!

Famous Canadian Basketball players: Andrew Wiggins, Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dillon Brooks, Kelly Olynyk, R. J. Barrett, Dwight Powell, Cory Joseph

Curling

The tenth most popular sport in Canada is curling. Canada is a winter country, generally speaking, and that is why ice hockey is so popular, and why the country is so good at this sport overall. However, it is not the only Canadian ice sport since curling also ranks among the most played winter sports in Canada.

There are national tournaments like the Tim Hortons Brier championship (for men) and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts (for women). There are also professional curling competitions like the Grand Slam of Curling, which is part of the World Curling Tour.

Number of Curling licensed players in Canada: 1,986,000 (includes casual players)

Famous Canadian Curling players: Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard, Randy Ferbey, Russ Howard, John Morris, Ernie Richardson, Wayne Middaugh, Marc Kennedy, Brad Gushue, David Nedohin

Golf

The eleventh most popular sport in Canada is golf. Golf is widely appreciated as a recreational sport in Canada. Very few people watch it, but almost 6 million Canadians practice the sport, even though most of them are casual players.

The sport was brought to Canada alongside tennis, by Scottish immigrants. Afterward, the first Canadian golf club, known as Montreal Golf Club, was created in 1873.

Throughout the decades, golf has become increasingly popular in Canada, and the country is in fact one of the biggest golf-playing nations in the world.

Number of Golf licensed players in Canada: 5,700,000 (includes casual players)

Famous Canadian Golf players: Mike Weir, George Knudson, Stan Leonard, Moe Norman, Stephen Ames, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Brooke Henderson, Alena Sharp

Boxing

The twelfth most popular sport in Canada is boxing. Boxing, like every other sport, has a long history in Canada. It was first practiced in 1867, but the bare-knuckle variant was illegal in the country.

The first Canadian boxer to win the world heavyweight title in 1906 was Tommy Burns. More recently, Berman Stiverne won the WBC World Heavyweight Championship in 2014.

Other notable Canadian boxers (because there is quite a handful of them) include Adam Braidwood, the current WBU Heavyweight Champion, and Trevor Berbick, who held the Canadian heavyweight championship for the major part of the 1980s.

Famous Canadian Boxing players: Lennox Lewis, Tommy Burns, Arturo Gatti, George Chuvalo, Adonis Stevenson, Jimmy McLarnin, Matthew Hilton, William Irwin, Donovan Ruddock, Donny Lalonde

Cycling

The thirteenth most popular sport in Canada is cycling. Over the past few years, cycling has seen a huge increase in participation in Canada. While the vast majority of the 7,000,000 cyclists in the country are casual, the sport draws more and more participants over the years.

Many genres of the sport are becoming popular in Canada, like slopestyle competition, downhill mountain biking, or dirt jumping.

There are quite a few differences between the provinces of Canada, as some places have very few biking infrastructures, while some others have their own helmet regulations.

Number of Cycling licensed players in Canada: more than 7,000,000 (most are casual)

Famous Canadian Cycling players: Steve Bauer, Ryder Hesjedal, Michael Barry, Alison Sydor, Svein Tuft, Michael Woods, Laura Brown, Lori-Ann Muenzer, Jeremy Hunt, Tara Whitten

Rugby league

The fourteenth most popular sport in Canada is rugby league. It looks like Canada loves contact sports, as rugby league is also on this list. The game appeared in the country during the 20th century, before disappearing, similarly to rugby union, by the end of the 1980s. The 21st century brought a new life to the sport though, and its popularity is now on the rise.

The national rugby union team is called the Canadian Wolverines, and the national league is the Canada Rugby League.

Famous Canadian Rugby league players: Edward Lyman Abbott, Quinn Ngawati, James Pritchard, Akarika Dawn, Jordan Drew, Ruairi McGoff, Ryley Jacks, Jason Demetriou

Disc sports

The fifteenth and last most popular sport in Canada is disc sports. You might not expect disc sports on any list of the most popular sports in any country, but Canada is very fond of them.

Organized disc sports date back to the beginning of the 1970s, thanks to promotional efforts from various companies like Frisbee distributors. Now, the most popular one is Ultimate, which was recently granted full recognition by the International Olympic Committee. Canada has one of the best Ultimate teams in the world, having won the AUDL Championships with a scoreline of 18-0.

Famous Canadian Disc sports players: Adam “Elvis” Berson, Andrew Lugsdin, Al “Al-Bob” Nichols, Dante Anderson, Evan Wood, Jeff Cruickshank, Alex Hughes, Cheryl Claibourne

So there you have them, these were all the most popular sports in Canada. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today. Keep reading below to discover a few more Canadian sports facts.

Is hockey a Canadian sport?

Canada, at its creation, was made of 4 provinces: New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec… and Nova Scotia. It is in the latter that ice hockey takes its roots. Nova Scotia is located in the eastern part of North America, and the Mi’kmaq people (the largest of the Native American peoples), who lived there, created a game using a stick and a square wooden block.

Over the centuries, this sport slowly spread throughout the country thanks to Scottish and Irish immigrants and evolved into the sport we know of today.

What is Canada’s official summer sport?

Canada officially has 2 national sports: ice hockey for winter and lacrosse for summer.

Lacrosse is a sport that dates back to the 17th century in Canada, making it the oldest organized sport in North America. It was later on modified by colonizers, who reduced the violence of the sport. This sport is played with a stick, the lacrosse stick, and a ball, the lacrosse ball. Players carry, pass, catch and shoot the ball into a goal to score points.

What is the fastest growing sport in Canada?

If there is one sport that is growing in Canada, it is definitely football, or soccer as North American people call it. It is also the largest participatory sport. There are 1,200 football clubs in Canada, and they operate across 13 provinces. Its governing body is Canada Soccer.

More Sport Facts!

Loved these Canada sports facts? Want to see what sports are the most popular in other countries?

Then check out these posts:

• Famous Sports in England
• Famous Sports in Japan
• Famous Sports in Australia

Or click here to see ALL the facts up on the blog! Spoiler alert: there’s A LOT of them.

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