Sport in Europe

Sport in Europe tends to be highly organized with many sports having professional leagues. The origins of many of the world's most popular sports today lie in the codification of many traditional games, especially in Great Britain. However, a paradoxical feature of European sport is the remarkable extent to which local, regional and national variations continue to exist, and even in some instances to predominate.

Spectator sports are popular across Europe. (Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, the largest in Europe)

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Team sports

Association football

Premier League

Association football is the most popular sport in almost all countries of Europe. European national teams have won 12 of 21 editions of the FIFA World Cup. UEFA, the governing body for European football, has hosted the UEFA European Championship since 1960, and the UEFA Women's Championship since 1984.

The most popular and successful football leagues are the Spanish La Liga, the English Premier League, the Italian Serie A, the German Bundesliga and the French Ligue 1. Other main football leagues on continent are the Portuguese Primeira Liga, the Russian Premier League, the Turkish Super Lig and the Netherlands Eredivisie. The top clubs in each league play the UEFA Champions League, while lower-ranked clubs compete in UEFA Europa League.

Rugby union

European Rugby Cup

Rugby union is popular in southern France, southern England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and northern Italy. Although the game is played competitively in Germany, Russia, Romania and Georgia, it is not at a fully professional level.

Europe's main competition for national teams is the Six Nations Championship, first held in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship. The other European national teams play at the Rugby Europe International Championships. The England national teams is the only European team to have won the Rugby World Cup, whereas France was runner-up three times and Wales reached the semifinals once.

The three main domestic rugby union competitions are the fully professional Premiership (England), Top 14 (France) and Pro14 (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and South Africa). The European Rugby Champions Cup is the premier continental championship, with clubs qualifying from the three professional competitions.

Rugby league

Rugby league is popular in northern England, where the sport formed in 1895. The game is also popular in southern France.

The Great Britain national team first played in 1908, and entered the World Cup until 1992 and the Tri-Nations until 2006. England, Scotland and Wales have played independently since then. Great Britain has won the World Cup three times, whereas France has been runner-up twice..

Clubs from England and France compete in the only fully professional league, the Super League, as well as the Challenge Cup competition.

In addition to this, the game is also played semi-professionally and at amateur levels in Russia, Serbia, Italy, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Cricket

Lord's Cricket Ground is known as the "Home of Cricket".

Cricket is a popular summer sport in the United Kingdom and has been exported to other parts of the former British Empire. Cricket has its origins in south east Britain. It is popular throughout England and Wales, and parts of the Netherlands. Cricket is also popular in other areas and also played in northwest Europe. It is however very popular worldwide, especially in southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Indian subcontinent.

The England cricket team and Ireland cricket team are the only European teams with Test status. England's main rival is Australia, and they play each other in The Ashes series. England has never won the Cricket World Cup or the ICC Champions Trophy, despite multiple appearances at the final. However, the team has won the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010. Ireland has recently received Test status in 2017.

Ice hockey

Austrian Hockey League

Ice hockey is very popular at a professional and amateur level in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, and northern central Europe, where it rivals association football in popularity. It is also popular at a professional level in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, most of Western Europe and parts of former USSR and Yugoslavia.

The Kontinental Hockey League originated from Russia but currently features teams from eight other countries. The Austrian Hockey League, Czech Extraliga, Deutsche Eishockey Liga, SM-Liiga, National League A and Swedish Hockey League are other professional leagues, whose top teams meet at the Champions Hockey League.

The Ice Hockey European Championships for national teams was played from 1910 to 1932. National teams currently play the Ice Hockey World Championships, where Russia / Soviet Union have claimed a combined 27 titles, the Czech Republic / Czechoslovakia 12 and Sweden 11.

Basketball

Italian Basketball Cup

Basketball originated in America. It was invented by James Naismith in Massachusetts. He first coached Kansas University, and is their only coach with a career losing record. In Europe, basketball is the second most popular team sport in many countries, including Greece, Serbia and Spain. In Lithuania it is the national sport.

The EuroBasket is the main European basketball competition for men's national teams, first held in 1935. The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia have won the most titles, with Spain claiming three championships since the late 2000s.

The EuroLeague is the most important club basketball competition in Europe. it was founded as the FIBA European Champions Cup in 1958, but is organized by the Euroleague Basketball association since 2000.

Handball

Handball is played professionally in several European countries. The European Handball Federation organizes continental competitions for men's and women's. European teams have dominated the IHF World Men's Handball Championship and have also won most editions of the IHF World Women's Handball Championship. Notable men's teams include Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Slovenia and Croatia, whereas Norway has dominated women's championships since the 2000s.

The EHF Champions League is the most important handball club competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations.

Volleyball

European teams have won most editions of the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, leaded by Italy with three. In the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship, the Soviet Union has won five editions, Russia two, and Italy and Serbia one each. The Soviet Union has won three men's gold medals and four women's gold medals at the Olympics.

The European Volleyball Confederation was founded in 1963, but the Men's European Volleyball Championship was first held in 1948 and the Women's European Volleyball Championship in 1949, with the Soviet Union and Russia leading both in titles.

The CEV Champions League is held annually since the 1959-60 edition. Russian clubs VC CSKA Moscow and VC Zenit-Kazan won 13 and six editions respectively, while Italian clubs Modena Volley and Volley Treviso won four each. The CEV Women's Champions League is held since 1960–61. WVC Dynamo Moscow won 11 editions, Uralochka Ekaterinburg won eight, and Volley Bergamo won seven.

Other sports

Other team sports like futsal, field hockey and American football are also popular in some European countries.

Some sport competitions features a European team gathering athletes from different European countries. These teams uses the European flag as an emblem. The most famous of these competitions is the Ryder Cup in golf. Other examples are the Laver Cup in tennis, the Mosconi Cup in pool, the Weber Cup in bowling, the IAAF Continental Cup in athletics, and the Continental Cup of Curling.

Individual sports

The European Championships is a new multi-sport event which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports, including Golf, Cycling, Athletics, Aquatics, and Gymnastics, every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 will be staged by the host cities of Glasgow, Scotland and Berlin, Germany between 2 and 12 August.

Golf

British Open Championship

The Open Championship, also known as the British Open, is one of the four major golf tournaments. Other notable golf tournaments in Europe include the BMW PGA Championship, Scottish Open, Irish Open, French Open and Italian Open, which are part of the European Tour.

Europe competes as a single team in the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup versus the United States, and the Royal Trophy and EurAsia Cup versus Asia. Also, the Seve Trophy was played between the Great Britain and Ireland and the Continental Europe team.

Notable male golfers include Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Rory McIlroy, Pádraig Harrington, Ian Woosnam, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Bernhard Langer, Martin Kaymer, Seve Ballesteros, José María Olazábal and Miguel Ángel Jiménez. Notable female golfers include Annika Sörenstam, Laura Davies and Suzann Pettersen.

Tennis

The French Open (Roland Garros) in Paris.

Tennis is popular in most of Europe. Two of the four Grand Slam events are held here: the Roland Garros in France and the Wimbledon Championships in the United Kingdom. The Rome Masters, Madrid Open, Italian Open and Paris Masters have ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, whereas the Madrid Open and Italian Open are also WTA Tour Tier I events.

Notable male tennis players include Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl and Björn Borg. Notable female tennis players include Steffi Graf, Maria Sharapova, Monica Seles, Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki, Conchita Martínez and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.

Motorsport

Michael Schumacher won seven Formula One drivers championships, five of them with Scuderia Ferrari.

Motorsports are popular across nearly all of Europe. The Formula One, FIA World Endurance Championship, World Touring Car Championship, World Rally Championship and World Rallycross Championship are mainly held in Europe, and are traditionally dominated by European drivers and teams. Notable automobile races include the Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo Rally, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours Nürburgring and 24 Hours Spa.

Notable racecar drivers include Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell, Tom Kristensen and Sébastien Loeb.

Motorcycle road racing is very popular in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. Most of the Motorcycle Grand Prix are held in Europe. Italian riders Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi are the two most successful of all time, with eight and seven 500cc / MotoGP World Championships respectively. In the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man TT and other road races held in closed public roads are very popular.

Motorcycle speedway is also popular in Poland, Scandinavia, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom.

Cycling

The 2004 Tour de France rides the Champs Élysées

Road cycling is especially popular in France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. Nearly every UCI World Tour race is held in Europe, including the three Grands Tours: Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Giro d'Italia, as well as the five Monuments: Milan–San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Giro di Lombardia.

Notable road cyclists include Jacques Anquetil, Louison Bobet, Bernard Hinault, Alberto Contador, Miguel Indurain, Eddy Merckx, Gino Bartali, Alfredo Binda, Fausto Coppi, and Felice Gimondi.

Other sports

Epsom Derby

The most prestigious and lucrative athletics and aquatics meets are in Europe. The most prestigious sporting event related to athletics is the European Athletics Championships, wherein Mo Farah is the most successful individual athlete.

For those areas with the proper climate, winter sports are also an important. In Scandinavian and Alpine countries, various forms of skiing and snowboarding are popular. European competitors have traditionally dominated at the Winter Olympics and the International Ski Federation World Championships.

Horse racing is very popular in the United Kingdom and France. Major events are the Royal Ascot, Cheltenham Festival, Epsom Derby, Grand National and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Other popular individual sports include snooker, darts, and boxing.

Traditional sports

See also: Hastilude and Medieval football

Some regions have games that are particular to their home, for example Gaelic games in Ireland, Calcio storico in Italy, shinty in Scotland, pétanque in southern France, bandy in Russia and Scandinavia, Basque Pelota in Basque Country, or bullfighting in Spain.

Olympic Games

Europe was the birthplace of the Olympic Movement that has become so central to modern individual sport, with the International Olympic Committee founded in Switzerland in 1894 and Greece being the first country to hold the First Olympic Games. Europe has hosted a total of 30 Olympic Games (16 Summer and 14 Winter), more than any other region in the world.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union, East Germany and other communist countries had a fierce rivalry in the Olympic Games with West Europe countries and the United States. Notable events include the Blood in the Water match in 1956, the 1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, the Miracle on Ice in the 1980 Winter Olympics, and the 1980 and 1984 boycotts.

Club over franchise

Unlike major team sports in North America, where franchises are awarded to nominated cities, most European teams have grown from small clubs formed by groups of individuals before growing rapidly. Churches, universities and work places have often been the most fertile birthplace of many of Europe's major sports clubs, particularly in Britain, which in latter part of the nineteenth century led the way in organised sports.

Clubs therefore had an equal chance to grow to become among the strongest in their particular sport which has led to a situation where many large cities are represented by multiple top class teams in the same sport. In the 2016–17 football season, London has five teams playing in the Premier League, while Liverpool and Manchester also have double representation. Other large European cities like Rome, Milan, Madrid, Rotterdam and Barcelona have multiple first division clubs.

See also

• European Championship
• European Championships (multi-sport event)
• European Games
• Nations League
• Team Europe
• Sport policies of the European Union
• Directorate-General for Education and Culture
• European Capital of Sport
• Sport in Africa
• Sport in Asia
• Sport in Oceania
• Sport in South America