Sweden Sports – The Most Popular Sports in Sweden
Wondering what sports the Swedish like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in Sweden in this post. ⚽️
The Most Popular Swedish Sports
Find below Sweden national sports, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Football |
| 2 | Handball |
| 3 | Golf |
| 4 | Athletics |
| 5 | Gymnastics |
| 6 | Ice hockey |
| 7 | Basketball |
| 8 | Tennis |
| 9 | Esports |
So there you have them, the most popular Swedish sports! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in Sweden.
What is the National Sport of Sweden?
The national sport of Sweden is football. Like most European countries, Sweden is an absolute fan of football. The country is very proud of some of its legendary players, like Zlatan Ibrahimović, and everyone simply loves watching and playing the game.
Learn More About Sweden Popular Sports
Sweden is a Nordic country located in Scandinavia, in the northern part of Europe. It is bordered by Norway and Finland, and it is connected to Denmark through the Öresund Strait. Its capital city is Stockholm, which counts more than 975,000 inhabitants (but more than 2,402,000 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 Sweden popular sports, and I hope you will love them:
Football
The most popular sport in Sweden is, by far and away, football. Football dates back to 1870 in Sweden when it was brought to… gymnastics clubs! These were the best places to practice sports, and many foreign games were brought to Sweden this way. After its introduction, the popularity of football quickly grew, and the first agreement on the rules was made in 1885.
The first Swedish national team was founded in 1908, and its best achievement since then was a second-place finish at the 1958 World Cup, during the golden age of football in Sweden.
Number of Football licensed players in Sweden: 362,000
Famous Swedish Football players: Zlatan Ibrahimović, Henrik Larsson, Tomas Brolin, Thomas Ravelli, Gunnar Nordahl, Martin Dahlin, Olof Mellberg, Freddie Ljungberg, Victor Lindelöf, Emil Forsberg, Albin Ekdal, Kennet Andersson, Sebastian Larsson, Patrik Andersson, Marcus Berg
Handball
The second most popular sport in Sweden is handball.
Swedes really love ball games, and this time the country is very, very good at the sport, on an international scale: the men’s national team has won 4 World Championships, from 1954 to 1999, which is the record number of titles, only shared with Romania and France. On top of that, they won 3 World Cup silver medals and 4 World Cup bronze medals. The team also shined on the Olympics scene and on the European championship scene, becoming the most successful team in the sport’s history.
Famous Swedish Handball players: Magnus Wislander, Staffan Olsson, Ola Lindgren, Tomas Svensson, Katja Nyberg, Jonas Källman, Kim Andersson, Mattias Andersson
Golf
The third most popular sport in Sweden is golf. While this is quite rare, golf is one of the three most popular sports in Sweden, gathering almost half a million players. Similar to handball, Swedish golf is widely successful: its players have won more than 100 European Tours as well as 25 PGA Tour events. 9 of the best players have even been selected to be part of the European team at the Ryder Cup.
Annika Sörenstam is a very notorious Swedish golf player, and she is part of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Number of Golf licensed players in Sweden: 461,404
Famous Swedish Golf players: Henrik Stenson, Annika Sörenstam, Jesper Parnevik, Alexander Norén, Niclas Fasth, Mats Lanner, Robert Karlsson, Jarmo Sandelin, Jonas Blixt, Per-Ulrik Johansson
Athletics
The fourth most popular sport in Sweden is athletics. Track & Field has always been widely appreciated in the country. Sweden is known for having many proficient Swedish athletes, and this trend started during the 1940s, with runners like Gunder Hägg and Lennart Strand who dominated middle-distance running.
In recent times, Sweden has shined in high jumping with stars Patrik Sjöberg and Ludmila Engquist. The first one is a World champion as well as the European record holder, while the second one is an Olympic gold medalist.
Famous Swedish Athletics players: Angelica Bengtsson, Armand Duplantis, Moa Hjelmer, Michel Tornéus, Carolina Klüft, Kajsa Bergqvist, Kim Amb, Christian Olsson, Emma Green Tregaro
Gymnastics
The fifth most popular sport in Sweden is gymnastics. Swedish gymnastics are very special. They were founded by poet Pehr Henrik Ling at the beginning of the 19th century, and their goal is to regenerate the body and improve the overall health of its practitioners. The system evolved over time, but gymnastics remains popular in the country.
Now, the women’s national gymnastics team placed 4th at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games, while it earned a gold medal at the 1950 World Championships. They have not seen any major success since 1966.
Famous Swedish Gymnastics players: Axel Ljung, Hugo Jahnke, Arvid Holmberg, Karin Lindberg, Carl Holmberg, Daniel Norling, Per Bertilsson, Gösta Åsbrink
Ice hockey
The sixth most popular sport in Sweden is ice hockey. Considering the weather in Sweden, you might be surprised to see only 1 winter sport to be so popular in the country. Unlike other winter sports in Sweden, ice hockey as well as its variant bandy, are both very popular.
In fact, the men’s national team is extremely successful, having won the World Championships a whopping 11 times! The women’s team also won bronze medals in the 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2005 World Ice Hockey Championships.
Number of Ice hockey licensed players in Sweden: 73,293
Famous Swedish Ice hockey players: Henrik Sedin, Nicklas Lidström, Peter Forsberg, Henrik Zetterberg, Mats Sundin, Henrik Lundqvist, Daniel Alfredsson, Börje Salming, Markus Näslund
Basketball
The seventh Sweden most popular sport is basketball. Don’t be fooled, even though basketball is only currently 7th, it is one of the most growing sports in Sweden, and this is due to several recent events. First of all, ever since Magic Johnson bought the club M7 Borås and played a few games there, the sport immediately skyrocketed. After that, the participation of several Swedish basketball teams in international tournaments also helped. Finally, Jonas Jerebko became the first Swede to enter the NBA in 2009.
Now, the sport is extremely popular among the youth of the country, and it will probably continue to grow, so keep an eye on it!
Famous Swedish Basketball players: Damir Markota, Jonas Jerebko, Jeffery Taylor, Marcus Eriksson, Jan Enjebo, Peter Gunterberg, Torbjörn Taxén, Leif Yttergren, Roland Rahm
Tennis
The eighth most popular sport in Sweden is tennis.
Even if you are not a fan of tennis, you must have heard of Swedish legend Björn Borg. He is a major reason for the sport to be popular in the country, he won 11 Grand Slam titles, and he used to be ranked #1 in singles. Other successful players include Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Jonas Björkman and Anders Järryd. These include World no. 1 in singles and in doubles, and while the sport is not the biggest one right now, it will always have a sizable fanbase.
Famous Swedish Tennis players: Stefan Edberg, Björn Borg, Robin Söderling, Mats Wilander, Thomas Johansson, Magnus Norman, Jonas Björkman, Thomas Enqvist, Anders Järryd
Esports
The ninth and last most popular sport in Sweden is esports. You might not expect them to be part of a popular sports list, but I simply could not ignore them. Because many video games are rapidly gaining players, their competitive scene is growing.
Sweden has produced many successful esports players, starting with StarCraft II players: Jonathan “Jinro” Walsh (who performed in South Korea), Johan “NaNiwa” Lucchesi and Marcus “Thorzain” Eklöf were the first ones. Now, League of Legends superstar Martin “Rekkles” Larsson is an icon of the game and is popular throughout the world.
Number of Esports licensed players in Sweden: more than 400
Famous Swedish Esports players: Ludwig “Zai” Wåhlberg, Martin “Rekkles” Larsson, Gustav “s4” Magnusson, Johan “pieliedie” Åström, Jesper “JW” Wecksell, Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer, Freddy “KRiMZ” Johansson
So there you have them, these were all the national sports of Sweden. 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 Sweden 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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