Soccer Is the World’s Most Popular Sport and Still Growing

More than four out of 10 people consider themselves soccer fans, making the game the world’s most popular sport. In a Nielsen survey that spanned 18 global markets, 43 percent of people said they were “interested” or “very interested” in the sport in 2017. Basketball, with 36 percent, is No. 2.

These numbers come from Nielsen’s World Football Report, an annual survey of the sport’s audience released on Tuesday morning in advance of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. The report shows soccer in an extraordinary position: It’s dominant in global sport and has room to grow in major markets. While 19 countries show a majority of the population expressing interest in soccer, the U.S. and China—the world’s two largest economies—are not among them.