Singapore Sports – The Most Popular Sports in Singapore
Wondering what sports the Singaporeans like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in Singapore in this post. ⚽️
The Most Popular Singaporean Sports
Find below Singapore national sports, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Football |
| 2 | Baseball |
| 3 | Golf |
| 4 | Basketball |
| 5 | Volleyball |
| 6 | Cricket |
So there you have them, the most played sports in Singapore! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in Singapore.
What is the National Sport of Singapore?
The national sport of Singapore is Football. Like many other countries, Singapore is fond of football. While it was not officially declared the national sport of the country, it is widely appreciated for its ability to bring people together, as well as the simplicity of the rules and its accessibility.
Learn More About Singapore Popular Sports
Singapore is an island city-state located in maritime Southeast Asia. It is an archipelago made of one main island and 63 smaller ones, and it lies off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It has more than 5,453,000 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 Singapore popular sports, and I hope you will love them:
Football
The most popular sport in Singapore is, by far and away, football. As you know, football is also the national sport of Singapore. While the national team is definitely not successful on a worldwide scale, the local clubs are much better, and they are trained by experienced coaches.
Football is recognized by the government, and the national teams (men’s and women’s) regularly compete against other countries in the continent. There are also regional football clubs that play against each other.
Famous Singaporean Football players: Fandi Ahmad, Hariss Harun, Adam Swandi, Irfan Fandi, Safuwan Baharudin, Izwan Mahbud, Lionel Lewis, Ikhsan Fandi, Baihakki Khaizan, Hassan Sunny, Gabriel Quak, Noh Alam Shah, Khairul Amri, Shahril Ishak, Shakir Hamzah
Baseball
The second most popular sport in Singapore is baseball. Both baseball and softball are widely appreciated in Singapore. The American sports are governed by the Singapore Baseball and Softball Association, and there are many different teams, depending on the gender and age group.
The Singaporean national baseball teams compete against other teams in Asia, and in the world.
These sports are quite often played during the weekend, and many schools and colleges have their own team.
Famous Singaporean Baseball players: Robin Jennings, Josh Nam, Bart West, Max West
Golf
The third most popular sport in Singapore is golf. Believe it or not, even though golf is usually not amongst the top 3 sports in any country, Singaporeans absolutely love it. There are around 80,000 golf players on the island, and they can enjoy some of the best private and public golf courses in the region.
The main problem with golf remains the fact that it is not open to everyone, unlike other public sports. However, Singaporeans love playing golf during the weekends, with their family.
Number of Golf licensed players in Singapore: 80,000
Famous Singaporean Golf players: Mardan Mamat, Ryan Ang, Donovan Lee, Sean Lee, Brandon Han, Justin Kuk, Hiroshi Tai, Jen Goh, Inez Ng, Yoko Tai, Hailey Loh, Wong Qi Wen
Basketball
The fourth most popular sport in Singapore is basketball. Most notably, the national Singaporean men’s and women’s basketball teams are some of the best in the region. They earned 3 bronze medals at the South East Asian Games, in 1979, 2013 and 2015, and 2 others at the ASEAN Basketball Championship, in 2001 and 2013.
Other than that, basketball is also largely a recreational sport, mostly appreciated by younger generations, generally speaking.
Number of Basketball licensed players in Singapore: 2,000
Famous Singaporean Basketball players: Shi Yang Ng, Sikander Nielsen, Wei Jie Desmond Oh, Chin Hong Tan, Wei Long Wong, Qing Huang Toh, John Jing Lun Ng, Shengyu Lim, Leon Wei Meng Kwek
Volleyball
The fifth most popular sport in Singapore is volleyball. Volleyball is very similar to basketball. It is quite appreciated by the youth of the country, as it is mostly played in schools and institutions, but Singapore also has a national volleyball team for both men and women. These teams play, as usual, against the many other teams in the region.
The governing body of volleyball on the island is the Volleyball Association of Singapore, and it was established on November 4th, 1961.
Famous Singaporean Volleyball players: Chua Hong Yao Kelvin, Fu Hao Rong, Lee Teck Kai Edwin, Cheah Wei Jie Avan, Ryan Tan Sing Kai, Jordan Wong, Chew Ming Feng
Cricket
The sixth and last most popular sport in Singapore is cricket. Cricket is another sport that has national teams.
The Singapore Cricket Club was founded in 1837, during the colonial period of the country. By the end of the 19th century, Singapore would play against other British colonies. The best result of the team was to finish 14th at the 1997 One Day International. Its current ICC ranking is 20th, and its all-time best is 19th, in 2019.
Number of Cricket licensed players in Singapore: more than 5,000
Famous Singaporean Cricket players: Amjad Mahboob, Vinoth Baskaran, Surendran Chandramohan, Tim David, Janak Prakash, Anantha Krishna, Manpreet Singh, Anish Paraam
So there you have them, these were all the most popular sports in Singapore. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today. Keep reading to get a few more facts about sports in Singapore.
Which sport is the most popular one among youth in Singapore?
Among teenage men, the most popular sport is basketball, while jogging or running is a close second. For women, it is jogging or running. Overall, running is probably the most popular sport among the Singaporean youth, topping the table of the young adults’ category for both men and women, and the teens’ category for women.
Does Singapore support sports?
On paper, most people would think Singapore has done a lot to support its local sports, and it did quite a few things, mostly increasing sports funding over the years and creating a Sports School and a Sports Hub.
However, the reality is that even though the country encourages mass participation, many athletes say the government’s participation is not enough, and that it is half-hearted. In fact, most of them cannot pursue their sporting dreams without a full-time job on the side.
More Sport Facts!
Loved these Singapore 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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