Venezuela Sports – The Most Popular Sports in Venezuela
Wondering what sports the Venezuelans like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in Venezuela in this post. ⚾️
The Most Popular Venezuelan Sports
Find below Venezuela national sports, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Baseball |
| 2 | Football |
| 3 | Basketball |
| 4 | Rugby union |
So there you have them, the most popular sports in Venezuela! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in Venezuela.
What is the National Sport of Venezuela?
The national sport of Venezuela is baseball. Venezuela is heavily influenced by the United States, and as a result, its national sport is baseball. Though this is not official, the sport is the most popular one in the country, and Venezuelans love playing and watching it. They are also pretty good at it!
Learn More About Venezuela Popular Sports
Venezuela is a Spanish-speaking country located on the northern coast of South America. It is bordered by Colombia, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana. Its capital city is Caracas, which counts more than 2,245,000 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 Venezuela’s popular sports, and I hope you will love them:
Baseball
The most popular sport in Venezuela is, by far baseball.
Baseball dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. It was mainly brought to the country by American oil companies who bought the rights for oil extraction. Baseball’s popularity really exploded in Venezuela when the national team beat Cuba in the finals of the worldwide championships, held in Havana. This was such a huge event that the team was named the Heroes of ‘41.
Famous Venezuelan Baseball players: Miguel Cabrera, José Altuve, Andrés Galarraga, Luis Aparicio, Bobby Abreu, Félix Hernández, Dave Concepción, Omar Vizquel, Johan Santana, Carlos González, Ronald Acuña Jr., Freddy García, Wilson Ramos, Tony Armas, Salvador Pérez
Football
The second most popular sport in Venezuela is football.
While the popularity of football is skyrocketing in Venezuela, it still lags pretty far behind baseball. One of the major reasons for football not being #1 in the country yet is the lack of success of Venezuelan athletes. Compared to baseball, football has not achieved much in Venezuela.
Famous Venezuelan Football players: Juan Arango, Wuilker Fariñez, Josef Martinez, Tomás Rincón, Roberto Rosales, Salomón Rondón, Fernando Amorebieta, Oswaldo Vizcarrondo
Basketball
The third Venezuela most popular sport is basketball.
Until quite recently (2012 more precisely), basketball used to be the second most popular sport in Venezuela. Despite this little decline, the national basketball team is one of the three best teams in South America.
Venezuela hosted the qualifying tournament for the 2012 FIBA World Olympics, and it is home to some of the best players in the Americas, Asia, and Europe.
Famous Venezuelan Basketball players: Donta Smith, Oscar Torres, Carl Herrera, Greivis Vasquez, Ivan Olivares
Rugby union
The fourth and last most popular sport in Venezuela is rugby union.
While this is typically not an American sport, rugby union is definitely very popular in Venezuela. It was first played during the 1950s, by a group of English oil workers. Two rugby teams were then created in Caracas by Frenchmen, Uruguayans, and Argentines: Martell and Renault.
So there you have them, these were all the most popular sports in Venezuela. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today. Keep reading to get a few more facts.
Why is baseball so popular in Venezuela?
The reasons why baseball is so popular in Venezuela are very simple. The country traded with the United States a lot throughout its history.
First, the country is located in the Caribbean, which makes it a primary destination for American merchants. American culture quickly spread this way.
The second reason is that Venezuela has a lot of oil. Ever since it was discovered after World War I, the country sold the rights for oil extraction to American oil companies. As a result, baseball has a prime spot in Venezuela, even to this day.
Is soccer big in Venezuela?
Soccer, or football, is quite big in Venezuela, and it is growing in popularity. It is still quite far from baseball, but it is definitely one of the most promising sports for the foreseeable future of the country.
The national football team is known as La Vinotinto (the Red Wine), because of their dark red jerseys, but they still have to find international success.
Does Venezuela have a national baseball team?
Yes, there is a Venezuelan national baseball team. It is actually one of the best ones in the world, being ranked 10th in the WBSC rankings, and it is even better than Cuba, reputed to be another Caribbean powerhouse.
The U-23 Venezuelan team recently won the 2021 Baseball World Cup.
More Sport Facts!
Loved these Venezuela 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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