American Football and (Proper) Football, which sport is bigger?
This argument has been fired up once again this summer, with the USA hosting the vast majority of matches in the 2026 World Cup finals. Mexico and Canada sharing the other matches.
(Proper) Football has grown in popularity in the USA and this 2026 World Cup will have done that no harm you imagine.
However, fair to say that it has some way to go before it is the number one sport for those in the States.
Indeed, nowhere close with other sports still dominant.
American Football remains easily the most popular sport for those in the USA.
It appears that many of those (the majority?) in the United States still believe that American Football is the biggest sport in the world.
So what is the truth?
As a guide, I looked at the American Football World Cup vs (Proper) Football World Cup.
As most of you will agree, this summer’s 2026 World Cup has reinforced the fact that Football is a pretty big deal around the globe.
So how does the American Football World Cup compare?
The IFAF World Championship of American Football (also known as the IFAF World Cup) was first held in 1999.
That first American Football World Cup in 1999 was held in Italy with six countries participating,
It was then held ‘every’ four years, in Germany in 2003 (four countries), in Japan in 2007 (six countries), in Austria in 2011 (eight countries), in the USA in 2015 (seven countries).
It was due to be held in 2019 but didn’t happen due to so little interest, the same in 2023, they tried to organise one in 2025 but yet again, not enough interest around the globe.
Hmmm, a bit difficult to gauge which has more global appeal, American Football or Proper Football.
The truth is that only a relative handful of people outside the USA have any interest in American Football.
It has no more relevance than Aussie Rules or Gaelic Football, sports that are only of interest to the inhabitants of those particular countries.
The difference is that we don’t get people from Australia or the Republic of Ireland trying to tell us their domestic sports that are special/unique to them are more important than Proper Football.
The levels of delusion for many in the USA are incredible.
Those levels of delusion are backed up by their claims of the winners of the Superbowl becoming ‘World Champions’, despite nobody else outside the USA taking part. It is the same with the ‘World Series’ in Baseball.
USA Champions and USA Series don’t have quite the same cachet!!!
The truth is that other sports are also far bigger globally than American Football. For example, both Cricket and Rugby Union have proper regular organised major events that can be called World Cups, unlike any of the sports that are most popular in the USA.