South Africa Sports – The Most Popular Sports in South Africa
Wondering what sports the South Africans like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in South Africa in this post. ⚽️
The Most Popular South African Sports
Find below the national sports of South Africa, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Football |
| 2 | Rugby union |
| 3 | Cricket |
| 4 | Athletics |
| 5 | Basketball |
| 6 | Boxing |
| 7 | Golf |
| 8 | Cycling |
So there you have them, the most South African sports! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in South Africa.
What is the National Sport of South Africa ?
The national sport of South Africa is Rugby union. You must have heard of the Springboks, South Africa’s national rugby union team: they are the main reason for the sport to be this popular in the country.
On top of that, rugby union also used to be the most popular sport among white South Africans, but it is not the case anymore.
Learn More About South Africa Popular Sports
South Africa is the southernmost country in Africa. It is a multiethnic society, a previous colony and a developing country. Its capital city is Pretoria, which counts more than 2,472,000 inhabitants (but more than 2,921,000 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 South Africa popular sports, and I hope you will love them:
Football
The most popular sport in South Africa is football. Football is by far the most popular sport amongst black South Africans, and it recently grabbed the overall #1 spot in the country. In fact, the top three sports in the country are all extremely popular and the competition between them is fierce.
The FIFA World Cup was hosted for the first time in Africa in 2010, and it was in South Africa. While the national football team is not as successful as its rugby union counterpart, it still appeared at the World Cup three times.
Famous South African Football players: Benedict McCarthy, Lucas Radebe, Doctor Khumalo, Aaron Mokoena, Jomo Sono, Neil Tovey, Steven Pienaar, Shaun Bartlett, Patrick Ntsoelengoe
Rugby union
The second most popular sport in South Africa is rugby union. The legendary national rugby union team, the Springboks, are the current World champions. Their rivalry with New Zealand’s All-Blacks is famous in the whole world, and South Africa hosted and won the 1995 Rugby World Cup in their first appearance!
On a more casual side, rugby union is extremely popular in the country, as it is practiced by more than 650,000 players, and there is a national league, the Currie Cup, which is played annually.
Number of Rugby union licensed players in South Africa: 651,146
Famous South African Rugby union players: Bryan Habana, Joost van der Westhuizen, Naas Botha, Siya Kolisi, Mark Andrews, Victor Matfield, Os du Randt, Francois Pienaar, André Joubert
Cricket
The third most popular sport in South Africa is cricket. Cricket rounds out the top three of the South African most popular sports, and the national team is called the Proteas. Like in rugby union, South Africa is a leader on a worldwide scale, and it is one of the 12 teams playing in the test cricket format.
Tabraiz Shamsi is one of the most notorious South African cricket players, as he is the number one ranked T20 cricket bowler in the world.
Famous South African Cricket players: AB de Villiers, Tabraiz Shamsi, Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Vernon Philander, Hansie Cronje, Kepler Wessels, Faf du Plessis
Athletics
The fourth most popular sport in South Africa is athletics. Many successful track and field athletes originate from South Africa, and the country is renowned in both the Olympic and the Paralympic Games. Oscar Pistorius, arguably the most famous Paralympics athlete on the planet, comes from South Africa. He and his 3 teammates set the national record in relay at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics.
On top of that, he also won several gold medals, most notoriously at the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing, China.
Famous South African Athletics players: Caster Semenya, Oscar Pistorius, Sunette Viljoen, Godfrey Khotso Mokoena, Willem de Beer, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, L. J. van Zyl, André Olivier
Basketball
The fifth most popular sport in South Africa is basketball. While basketball is very far from the top three sports in terms of popularity, it is definitely a growing one. The youth of the country is particularly fond of it, and the governing body of the sport is quite recent: Basketball South Africa was founded in 1992, which is one of the most recent ones in FIBA.
So far, there has not been any South African basketball player who made it to the NBA.
Famous South African Basketball players: Neo Mothiba, Shane Marhanele, Christopher Gabriel, Pieter Prinsloo, Sakhile Sithole, Kagiso Ngoetjana, Thabo Sithole
Boxing
The sixth biggest sport in South Africa is boxing. Combat sports are becoming increasingly popular in South Africa, and in the rest of the world.
South Africa is extremely proficient at boxing, as it has produced 71 world champions! This includes worldwide famous world champion Vic Toweel (first South African to hold a title and undisputed World bantamweight champion) as well as more recent ones like Jeffrey Mathebula. In 1998, a spectacular year for the country, there were 8 world champions in South Africa.
Famous South African Boxing players: Vic Toweel, Gerrie Coetzee, Corrie Sanders, Jacob Matlala, Willie Toweel, Vuyani Bungu, Thulani Malinga, Brian Mitchell, Cassius Baloyi, Lawrence Stevens
Golf
The seventh most popular sport in South Africa is golf. This might sound like a broken record, but South Africa is yet again extremely good on a competitive level in golf. The sport dates back to a very long time ago, and it has had an illustrious history.
Now, the country is one of the best golfing nations in the world (for men at least, as it has seen less success in women’s golf). The most famous South African golfer is definitely Gary Player, one of the greatest of all times.
Number of Golf licensed players in South Africa: 150,000
Famous South African Golf players: Gary Player, Louis Oosthuizen, Ernie Els, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Retief Goosen, Bobby Locke, Trevor Immelman, David Frost, Tim Clark
Cycling
The eighth and last most popular sport in South Africa is cycling. Last but not least, cycling also has a great competitive scene in South Africa. Their most successful cyclist is Robert “Robbie” Hunter, who won a stage in the 2007 Tour de France. Greg Minnaar is also very famous for being a 7-time downhill mountain bike world champion. Besides, Daryl Impey became the first African cyclist to wear the yellow jersey at the 2013 Tour de France.
The governing body of cycling in South Africa is Cycling South Africa.
Famous South African Cycling players: Rudolph Lewis, Daryl Impey, Robbie Hunter, Louis Meintjes, Ryan Cox, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Greg Minnaar, Burry Stander
So there you have them, these were all the most popular sports in South Africa. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today. Here are a few more facts about South African sports below.
What sports is South Africa good at?
As you have seen throughout this list, South Africa is extremely proficient at many sports, including rugby union, cricket, athletics, boxing and golf.
Nothing comes close to rugby union though, as the Springboks are the current World champion, and they have always been a powerhouse ever since their debut.
How many people play sports in South Africa?
Sport is a very important part of South African culture, as are music, food and literature. The vast majority of South Africans play sports on a weekly basis, whether that is for recreation or for fitness reasons. Many sports are on the rise, but none of them come close to the top three ones.
More Sport Facts!
Loved these South Africa sports facts? Want to see what sports are the most popular in other countries?
Then check out these posts:
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