In Which Countries, is Basketball the # 1, National Sport

[GLOBO2]

i have a new Question-in europe basketball is more popular then handball?(i think yes for sure)

 

[UKO2]

i have a new Questio-in europe basketball is more popular then handball?(i think yes for sure)

it depends. in scandinavian countries and germany, handball is more popular

 

[GLOBO2]

it depends. in scandinavian countries and germany, handball is more popular

i know that in scandinavian its big,but in all europe(Including israel,yes..)whats more popular?

 

[Cibos2]

Overall i think its still basketball. 60-40 in favor of basketball. Ice hockey is on pretty much the same level. Tho ice hockey is best attended out out those 3.. and basketball pays the most on average.

Main problem with handball is that its fairly popular everywhere.. but no one really has it as main sport. Even in Germany who has absolutely the best league in all aspects its behind ice hockey in both attendance and finances...

 

[GLOBO2]

Overall i think its still basketball. 60-40 in favor of basketball. Ice hockey is on pretty much the same level. Tho ice hockey is best attended out out those 3.. and basketball pays the most on average.

Main problem with handball is that its fairly popular everywhere.. but no one really has it as main sport. Even in Germany who has absolutely the best league in all aspects its behind ice hockey in both attendance and finances...

this is from handball forum-Read it

http://handball123.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3908

and in israel handball is number 2234 sport

 

[euskadi2]

in croatia, popularity is related with succes. so wright now is handball.

football is by far most popular. but when you look only handball and only basketball fans, i think basketball is more popular. overall, maybe handball. just maybe.

but, if basketball players win some eurobasket in close future then they will be more popular

so, as you can see. it is complicated

 

[UKO2]

interesting thing is that dirk nowitzki's father was german handball representative and dirk himself first trained handball He initially played handball and tennis, but soon grew tired of being called a "freak" for his height and eventually turned to basketball

so, the best world basketball player started with handball and the best world handball player ivano balić first trained basketball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHJOQv7YWNE&feature=related

 

[sagenas2]

interesting thing is that dirk nowitzki's father was german handball representative and dirk himself first trained handball He initially played handball and tennis, but soon grew tired of being called a "freak" for his height and eventually turned to basketball

so, the best world basketball player started with handball and the best world handball player ivano balić first trained basketball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHJOQv7YWNE&feature=related

MJ? C'mon, Dirk is far away from being "the best world basketball player".

To continue this interesting facts, if I remember well, Šiškauskas didn't play basketball while he was kid. His sport was box but later only when he was 16 years old he started to play basketball (two years later he played in LKL and was among top players, if I know well..)

 

[turk-jugoslav2]

In my country,basketball is getting more popular but football is the most popular right now.actually,our people don't like to do any sports.We have not many sportive people.In eastern parts of Turkey(more undeveloped parts),It is nearly impossible to see a basketball court.when I travell to there,I cannot play basketball becuz there is no court.If you look at Turkish basketballer's birth place(or raised place since their childhood); you generally see Istanbul and Izmir .That means 18-20 millions but We have 73 millions I think If we built more courts and gym, Turkey will be better at basketball

 

[Khalid802]

In my country,basketball is getting more popular but football is the most popular right now.actually,our people don't like to do any sports.We have not many sportive people.In eastern parts of Turkey(more undeveloped parts),It is nearly impossible to see a basketball court.when I travell to there,I cannot play basketball becuz there is no court.If you look at Turkish basketballer's birth place(or raised place since their childhood); you generally see Istanbul and Izmir .That means 18-20 millions but We have 73 millions I think If we built more courts and gym, Turkey will be better at basketball

I'm sure the 2010 WC being held at Turkey has probably helped... I was in both Izmir and Istanbul and what you are saying regarding popularity of bball there is definitely true..

 

[LjutiKrilo2]

i would like to think serbia, but soccer ruins everything lol

so true...


one or two gold medals more, and basketball will be number one in serbia.

its right behind the untouchable football for too long...




when our football NT got eliminated in south africa (didn't passed the group inspite win over germany), a friend asked me: so, when is the start of basketball WC?



@ turk-jugoslav
in 10 years, no way man. not even on the turkish west coast.
after galatasaray won the UEFA cup, and turkish NT made it to semifinals in 2002... you are sentenced to football for god knows how long.

 

[thegreekmeister2]

I'm sure the 2010 WC being held at Turkey has probably helped... I was in both Izmir and Istanbul and what you are saying regarding popularity of bball there is definitely true..

I was reading some reviews from the fans about WC 2010 and it was funny that even taxi drivers in Istandul did not know it was a world championship being held in their town... And some of them even did not know where the hell was the arena (as if they did not know such arena existed)

 

[Khalid802]

I was reading some reviews from the fans about WC 2010 and it was funny that even taxi drivers in Istandul did not know it was a world championship being held in their town... And some of them even did not know where the hell was the arena (as if they did not know such arena existed)

Man trust me the taxi drivers in Istanbul know exactly where Abdi Ipekci and Sinan Erdem Arenas are located... They probably ripped off those fans and took them the long route or appeared to not know where the stadiums were to make more money as the taxi meter kept running (no offense to the Turkish members here). I'm only saying this because i've been to Istanbul 5 times before and i'm quite familiar with the city as well as how things work there.

But I will tell you this... On my way to Sinan Erdem the taxi driver told me about how he's a crazy Galatasaray football fan and he told me of the figure he paid to get yearly tickets (I can't remember the exact amount but he told me that compared to how much money he makes it was a really big sum of money)...

 

[thegreekmeister2]

I am familiar with taxi drivers tourist scam tactics. You don't have to lie that you don't know where something is. You just say that you know where it is and still drive you there in "round and round" way

 

[Mr. Basketball2]

In Turkey, wrestling, weightlifting and Volleyball might be more popular than Basketball.

RECAP:

Countries where Basketball is the #1 National Sport -

Philippines
Lithuania
Lebanon

Countries where its #2:

Puerto Rico (behind Boxing)
Estonia (behind Skiing)
Taiwan (behind Baseball)
USA (behind Football)
Serbia (behind Soccer)

 

[Danilovic52]

Overall i think its still basketball. 60-40 in favor of basketball. Ice hockey is on pretty much the same level. Tho ice hockey is best attended out out those 3.. and basketball pays the most on average.

Main problem with handball is that its fairly popular everywhere.. but no one really has it as main sport. Even in Germany who has absolutely the best league in all aspects its behind ice hockey in both attendance and finances...

Basketball is way more popular than hockey in Croatia,it's not even comparable.

 

[cscarlos2]

Basketball VS football

Basketball VS football

There was a smilier thread but I really want to find the answer:
In which country basketball is bigger then football (or in the same level)??

 

[timosmooth2]

well the US recognizes basketball more than soccer.

The Philippines may be the only country that like basketball more than soccer.

Maybe Angola? idk

 

[UKO2]

lithuania

 

[Gytaz2]

Latvia (at least on the same level) and Estonia.

I'm guessing Puerto Rico. What about Canada, for example?

I'm guessing Lebanon too, judging by the number of their posters here.