Ghana Sports – The Most Popular Sports in Ghana
Wondering what sports the Ghanaians like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in Ghana in this post. ⚽️
The Most Popular Ghanaian Sports
Find below Ghana national sports, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Football |
| 2 | Boxing |
| 3 | Basketball |
| 4 | Cycling |
| 5 | Surfing |
| 6 | Rugby union |
| 7 | Outdoor adventures |
So there you have them, the most popular sports in Ghana! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in Ghana.
What is the National Sport of Ghana?
The national sport of Ghana is football. Like most countries around the world, Ghana is an absolute fan of football. The main reason for this is that it is very accessible: everyone, even the poorest kids in the country, can play football.
Learn More About Ghana Popular Sports
Ghana is a country located in West Africa, and it is bordered by the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Togo. Its capital city is Accra, which counts more than 5,055,000 inhabitants.
An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its most popular sports. In light of that, I have listed all of Ghana’s popular sports, and I hope you will love them:
Football
The most popular sport in Ghana is by far football.
Many open spaces in Ghana are quickly turned into a football pitch, and players use whatever they can to create half-decent goalposts as well as the area of play.
The national team is the biggest pride of Ghana: they won the African Cup of Nations 4 times and have world-class players amongst their ranks, like Stephen Appiah and Michael Essien. They made history during the 2010 FIFA World Cup by barely losing to Uruguay in the quarterfinals after penalty shoutouts. They also became the only African team to achieve separate top 8 and top 16 finishes.
Famous Ghanaian Football players: Michael Essien, Abedi Pelé, Anthony Yeboah, Asamoah Gyan, Samuel Kuffour, Stephen Appiah, André Ayew, Karim Abdul Razak, Sulley Muntari
Boxing
The second most popular sport in Ghana is boxing. While football stands high above any other sport in Ghana, boxing is very popular and is what comes closest to the supremacy of football.
The country has produced extremely talented boxers, who won 3 out of the 4 Ghanaian Olympic medals.
There is one particular place in the country where boxing is almost considered a religion: the Ga stronghold of Jamestown, in the capital city of Accra. There are boxing gyms around every corner in this neighborhood, and 5 out of the 6 Ghanaian World Champions come from there.
Famous Ghanaian Boxing players: Azumah Nelson, Ike Quartey, Joshua Clottey, David Kotey, Richard Commey, Joseph Agbeko, Isaac Dogboe, Nana Konadu, Roy Ankrah, Bastir Samir
Basketball
The third most popular sport in Ghana is basketball.
The rise in popularity of basketball has been quite recent in Ghana, but it is probably going to skyrocket in the upcoming years. The sport mostly attracts the youth of the country, especially in Accra.
These kids dream of one day becoming like their heroes, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant. For this, there are local NGOs like DUNK which encourage these disadvantaged children to get involved in the sport.
Famous Ghanaian Basketball players: Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Amida Brimah, Ben Bentil, Nathan Mensah, Billy Ouattara, Akwasi Yeboah
Cycling
The fourth most popular sport in Ghana is cycling.
Cycling is even more recent than basketball in Ghana. And because of this, it is less popular, even though its fame is slowly but steadily growing.
Particularly during the weekends, you will probably see many groups of cyclists taking on the steep hills of Aburi, around Accra. This local community is one of the most thriving ones, but cycling is not for everyone: most people outside of the biggest cities do not have access to bicycles.
Famous Ghanaian Cycling players: Emmanuel Yeboah, Duke Agyapong
Surfing
The fifth most popular sport in Ghana is surfing.
Let me give you a secret here: Ghana is one of the best places in the world to go surfing. Why? Because not only are the waves world-class but there are barely any people! You can enjoy the peacefulness of the Ghanaian coast while doing some serious surfing.
Because of this, surfing is quite popular in the country, especially among locals. The most famous surf camps are in Kokrobite, Labadi, and Busua.
Rugby union
The sixth most popular sport in Ghana is rugby union.
I am going, to be honest, rugby union is not extremely popular in Ghana, even though it is ranked sixth on this list. On top of that, the national team is not very good on an African scale.
The popularity of the sport is still growing nonetheless, and more and more clubs are being created in the country. And even though the best African rugby team is by far South Africa, Ghana does not lose hope and keeps working for the future of its national team.
Outdoor adventures
The seventh most popular sport in Ghana is outdoor adventures.
This sport is more of a leisure activity, but if you have seen what Ghana looks like, you will not be surprised at all. The country is filled with amazing and wild landscapes, as well as rich and diverse wildlife, from mammals and reptiles to insects and marine species.
Because of this, many people enjoy the year-round sunshine in Ghana and participate in adventures such as rock climbing, hiking, kayaking, and mountain biking.
So there you have them, these were all the most popular modern Ghana sports. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today.
In case you want to learn more about sports in other countries, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about:
More Sport Facts!
Loved these Ghana sports facts? Want to see what sports are the most popular in other countries?
Then check out these posts:
Or click here to see ALL the facts up on the blog! Spoiler alert: there’s A LOT of them.
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