Most Popular Sports in Canada: Hockey, Football, and Beyond
On this page12
- 01Canada's most popular sports at a glance
- 02Ice hockey
- 03Canadian football (CFL)
- 04Basketball
- 05Soccer
- 06Curling
- 07Baseball
- 08How we ranked Canada’s biggest sports
- 09Viewership vs. participation: why the order is contested
- 10At a glance: Canada’s most popular sports
- 11What the 2024-2026 stretch changed
- 12The role of winter sports
Placement here rewards national reach across four measures, weighted in this order: viewership and fan-interest surveys first, then live participation and registration, then the pull of a marquee event, then cultural footprint. A sport that wins TV but trails in players still outranks one that leads registration but barely charts on the pro stage.
Canada's most popular sports at a glance
| Rank | Sport | Defining popularity signal |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ice hockey | National winter sport and seven NHL teams |
| 2 | Canadian football | Grey Cup and distinctive CFL rules |
| 3 | Basketball | Raptors title and growing player pipeline |
| 4 | Soccer | Largest participation base; 2026 co-host |
| 5 | Curling | Brier, Scotties and Olympic success |
| 6 | Baseball | Blue Jays-driven national audience |
- National institution
Ice hockey
Hockey is the only sport that tops Canada on every axis this ranking weighs: it wins national fan-interest surveys, it owns the winter TV calendar from October through June, and it is the country's official national winter sport under the National Sports of Canada Act of 1994. Seven of the NHL's 32 franchises play in Canadian cities, and junior hockey through the CHL keeps the game rooted at the community level in a way no other sport here matches.
It ranks above Canadian football because its reach is year-round and grassroots, not tied to a single championship week. The drought sharpens the obsession rather than dulling it: no Canadian club has won the Stanley Cup since Montreal in 1993, and the Edmonton Oilers lost the Final to the Florida Panthers in both 2024 and 2025. See how it stacks up nationally in our most popular sports breakdown.
National winter sport: since 1994 · Canadian NHL teams: 7 of 32 · Last Canadian Cup: Montreal, 1993
- Homegrown league
Canadian football (CFL)
The CFL earns second on the strength of one number: the 112th Grey Cup in November 2025 averaged 4.03 million viewers and peaked at 5.01 million, making it the single biggest domestic-league broadcast Canada produces each year. It ranks below hockey only because that draw is concentrated in one game rather than a full season of national interest.
Its identity is distinctly Canadian, not a borrowed NFL product: 12 players a side, three downs instead of four, and a wider, longer field. The Saskatchewan Roughriders won that 2025 title over the Montreal Alouettes, their first Grey Cup since 2013.
Format: 12 a side, 3 downs · Marquee event: Grey Cup (November) · 2025 peak audience: ~5.0M
- Fastest riser
Basketball
Basketball is the fastest-climbing sport in the country, and the pipeline is the proof: Canada sends more players to the NBA than any nation outside the United States. The Toronto Raptors' 2019 championship turned a regional following into a national one, and the men's team reached the semifinals of the 2023 FIBA World Cup before beating the United States for bronze, its best senior result ever.
It sits behind the CFL for now because its broadcast and domestic-league footprint is still thinner, but on trajectory it is the sport most likely to move up this list. Youth registration and playground participation have grown well beyond the Toronto core.
Turning point: Raptors 2019 title · 2023 FIBA World Cup: bronze (best-ever) · NBA pipeline: #1 outside USA
- Participation leader
Soccer
Soccer is the sport Canadians actually play most: it leads every other discipline in youth registration and overall participation. On the pure participation measure it outranks basketball, but it lands fourth because its domestic pro profile still trails hockey, football, and the NBA-fed basketball surge. The Canadian Premier League gives the country a home top flight to close that gap.
The national teams have raised the ceiling fast: the men qualified for the 2022 World Cup after a 36-year absence, the women won Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020, and Canada co-hosted the 2026 World Cup, staging 13 matches across Toronto and Vancouver from June 12 to July 19.
Participation: #1 nationally · Women: Olympic gold, Tokyo 2020 · 2026 World Cup: co-host, 13 matches
- Prairie stronghold
Curling
Curling ranks fifth on a specific strength the sports above it can't claim: it converts a niche, low-participation game into genuine national TV audiences. The Brier and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts pull strong broadcast numbers every winter, and Canada is a perennial medal threat at the World Championships and the Winter Olympics.
It places here rather than higher because its cultural weight is regional, anchored in the prairie provinces, rather than coast-to-coast the way hockey is. What keeps it ahead of most winter disciplines is the year-in, year-out competitive standing on the world stage.
Marquee events: Brier, Scotties · Stronghold: prairie provinces · World standing: perennial medal contender
- National rallying point
Baseball
Baseball makes the list on the back of a single team's reach. The Toronto Blue Jays are Canada's only MLB club, and in 2025 they pushed the Los Angeles Dodgers to a decisive Game 7 before falling 5-4 in 11 innings, a run that briefly turned the whole country into baseball fans.
It sits last here because interest spikes with the Blue Jays' fortunes rather than sustaining a steady year-round base the way hockey or soccer do. When Toronto contends, though, no sport outside hockey rallies a wider national audience.
Only Canadian MLB team: Blue Jays · 2025: World Series Game 7 loss · Reach: spikes with a contender
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- Ice hockey
- Canadian football (CFL)
- Basketball
- Soccer
- Curling
- Baseball
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How everyone ranked them
Built from reader rankings using position-based points.
Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Canada, but the country’s sporting map is wider than one game. The ranking above orders six sports by national prominence as of 2026; the sections below explain how that order was built and add the context the cards leave out.
How we ranked Canada’s biggest sports
Popularity is not a single number, so this list combines four signals rather than leaning on one. Viewership and fan-interest surveys carry the most weight, because they capture broad national attention. Live participation and registration come next, which is where soccer surges ahead of the pack. Then the reach of a marquee event, the lens that lifts the CFL. Finally, cultural footprint, the hardest to measure but impossible to ignore with hockey and curling.
Those measures pull in different directions on purpose. Hockey wins nearly all of them, so its top spot is uncontested. But soccer’s participation lead and basketball’s momentum show why any honest ranking has to state its criteria out loud: change the weighting and places three and four can swap.
Viewership vs. participation: why the order is contested
The single biggest tension in Canadian sport is that the most-watched game is not the most-played one. Hockey dominates screens; soccer dominates fields and youth registration. That split is why national “favourite sport” surveys and participation studies produce different leaders, and why this ranking privileges viewership while flagging where participation would reorder things.
Basketball complicates it further. Its television and domestic-league numbers still trail the CFL, yet its NBA pipeline and youth growth outpace everything else, so its ranking reflects present standing while acknowledging clear upward momentum.
At a glance: Canada’s most popular sports
| Rank | Sport | Governing body | Marquee event | Standout strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ice hockey | Hockey Canada / NHL | Stanley Cup | Top viewership, national identity |
| 2 | Canadian football | CFL | Grey Cup | Biggest domestic broadcast |
| 3 | Basketball | Canada Basketball / NBA | NBA / FIBA World Cup | Fastest-growing |
| 4 | Soccer | Canada Soccer | FIFA World Cup / CPL | Highest participation |
| 5 | Curling | Curling Canada | Brier / Winter Olympics | Prairie stronghold |
| 6 | Baseball | Toronto Blue Jays (MLB) | World Series | National rallying point |
What the 2024-2026 stretch changed
A dense run of results reshaped the pecking order’s edges. In hockey, the Edmonton Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final in both 2024 and 2025 and lost each time to the Florida Panthers, extending the Canadian Cup drought that dates to Montreal’s 1993 win. In baseball, the Blue Jays’ 2025 World Series push to a Game 7 briefly made the sport a national event.
Football held its ground: the Saskatchewan Roughriders won the 112th Grey Cup in November 2025 before a peak audience of about 5 million. And soccer had its landmark moment as Canada co-hosted the 2026 World Cup, its first time staging the men’s tournament, with Toronto and Vancouver splitting 13 matches.
The role of winter sports
Beyond hockey and curling, Canada is a heavyweight across winter sport generally. Alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, speed skating, and figure skating all carry deep national traditions, and the country is a reliable medal contender at every Winter Olympics. Geography drives much of it: long winters and abundant ice and snow make these sports accessible in ways few nations can match, and the Games give them a national spotlight every four years. None individually rival the top six, but together they anchor Canada’s identity as a winter-sport nation.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most popular sport in Canada?+
Ice hockey is Canada's most popular and culturally significant sport. It ranks as the top sport to watch in national surveys, with roughly one in five Canadians naming it their favourite, and it is Canada's official national winter sport. Its lead is clearest in viewership and cultural footprint rather than raw participation, where soccer leads.
Is hockey or lacrosse Canada's national sport?+
Canada officially has two national sports: ice hockey as the national winter sport and lacrosse as the national summer sport. Both were formalised by the National Sports of Canada Act in 1994. Lacrosse has deep roots in Indigenous cultures and holds symbolic status, but hockey dominates day-to-day attention, viewership, and youth-to-pro pipelines by a wide margin.
Which sport has the most participants in Canada?+
Soccer has the highest participation rate in Canada, especially among youth, where it consistently leads organised registration. Hockey remains the top sport for viewership and cultural prominence, but it ranks lower than soccer for hands-on participation. That gap is why a popularity ranking shifts depending on whether it counts television audiences or the number of people actually playing.
How many NHL teams are based in Canada?+
Seven NHL franchises play in Canada: the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks. The remaining 25 teams in the 32-team league are based in the United States. Despite that minority share, Canadian markets are among the league's most passionate and reliably sold-out arenas.
Has a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup recently?+
No Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, the longest such drought in NHL history. The Edmonton Oilers came closest in recent years, reaching the Final in both 2024 and 2025 but losing each time to the Florida Panthers, who repeated as champions. The drought remains one of Canadian hockey's defining storylines.
How was Canada involved in the 2026 World Cup?+
Canada co-hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside the United States and Mexico, its first time hosting the men's tournament. Toronto and Vancouver staged 13 matches between them from June 12 to July 19, and Canada's men qualified automatically as hosts. It was a landmark for a soccer nation that had reached only two men's World Cups before, in 1986 and 2022.
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