Sports in Canada

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"Our Game" sculpture by Canadian artist Edie Parker outside the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Sports in Canada consist of a wide variety of games. The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s.[1] Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse.[2] Other major professional games include curling, basketball, baseball, soccer, and football.[3] Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by numerous "Halls of Fame" and museums, such as Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.[4]

Canada shares several major professional sports leagues with the United States.[5] Canadian teams in these leagues include seven franchises in the National Hockey League, as well as three Major League Soccer teams and one team in each of Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. Other popular professional competitions include the Canadian Football League, National Lacrosse League, the Canadian Premier League, and the various curling tournaments hosted by Curling Canada.[6]

Swimming was the most common, reported sport by over one-third (35 percent) of Canadians in 2023.[7] This was closely followed by cycling (33 percent) and running (27 percent).[7] The popularity of specific sports varies across racialized groups;[7][8] in general, the Canadian-born population was more likely to have participated in winter sports such as ice hockey, skating, skiing and snowboarding, compared with immigrants, who were more likely to have played soccer (most popular youth team sport),[9] tennis or basketball.[7] Sports such as golf, volleyball, badminton, bowling, and martial arts are also widely enjoyed at the youth and amateur levels.[10]

Canada has enjoyed success both at the Winter Olympics and at the Summer Olympics[11]—though, particularly, the Winter Games as a "winter sports nation"—and has hosted several high-profile international sporting events such as the 1976 Summer Olympics,[12] the 1988 Winter Olympics,[13] the 2010 Winter Olympics,[14][15] the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup,[16] the 2015 Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games.[17] The country is scheduled to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside Mexico and the United States.[18]

  1. ^ Roxborough, Henry (1975). The Beginning of Organized Sport in Canada. pp. 30–43.
  2. ^ "National Sports of Canada Act". Government of Canada. November 5, 2015. Archived from the original on November 24, 2015.
  3. ^ Lindsay, Peter; West, J. Thomas (September 30, 2016). "Canadian Sports History". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  4. ^ Danilov, Victor J. (1997). Hall of fame museums: a reference guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-313-30000-4.
  5. ^ Butenko, Sergiy; Gil-Lafuente, Jaime; Pardalos, Panos M. (2010). Optimal Strategies in Sports Economics and Management. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 42–44. ISBN 978-3-642-13205-6.
  6. ^ Morrow, Don; Wamsley, Kevin B. (2016). Sport in Canada: A History. Oxford University Press. pp. xxi–intro. ISBN 978-0-19-902157-4.
  7. ^ a b c d "The Daily — Participation in Canadian society through sport and work". Statistics Canada. October 10, 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  8. ^ Fournier-Savard, Patric; Gagnon, Valerie; Durocher, Dominic (March 5, 2024). "Sports: More than just a game". Statistics Canada. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  9. ^ Press, Canadian (July 27, 2023). "Study: Soccer most popular sport among Canadian kids post-pandemic". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  10. ^ "Canadian sport participation – Most frequently played sports in Canada (2010)" (PDF). Government of Canada. 2013. p. 34. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 10, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  11. ^ Mallon, Bill; Heijmans, Jeroen (2011). Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement. Scarecrow Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-8108-7522-7.
  12. ^ Howell, Paul Charles (2009). Montreal Olympics: An Insider's View of Organizing a Self-financing Games. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-7735-7656-8.
  13. ^ Horne, John; Whannel, Garry (2016). Understanding the Olympics. Routledge. p. 157. ISBN 978-1-317-49519-2.
  14. ^ United States Senate Subcommittee on Trade, Tourism and Economic Development (January 2006). The Economic Impact of the 2010 Vancouver, Canada, Winter Olympics on Oregon and the Pacific Northwest: hearing before the Subcommittee on Trade, Tourism, and Economic Development of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, August 5, 2005. US GPO. ISBN 978-0-16-076789-0.
  15. ^ Fromm, Zuzana (2006). Economic Issues of Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Olympics. Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-197843-0.
  16. ^ Temporary Importations Using the FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 Remission Order. Canada Border Services Agency. 2015.
  17. ^ Peterson, David (July 10, 2014). "Why Toronto should get excited about the Pan Am Games". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020.
  18. ^ "World Cup 2026: Canada, US & Mexico joint bid wins right to host tournament". BBC Sport. June 13, 2018. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021.