ESPN: 100 Most Famous Athletes on The Planet

[Malta]

What are top 3 most popular sports in China ?

I would say Soccer,Tennis and basketball.

ping pong, Basketball, football, badminton.


From Mao Zedong to Jeremy Lin: Why Basketball Is China's Biggest Sport

 

[Big Boss]

is this just active players? i find it extremely hard to believe KD is the 2nd most famous basketball player

Yea its active

 

[Malta]

Fam, Fed is a tennis icon who has been doing it for 15 years.

KD is top 15, maybe top 10 worldwide.

Where did I say he wasn't?

I said Durant is probably more popular in China than him, especially now that he plays in the Bay....

 

[mastermind]

Breh, cornering the tennis market leads to wild endorsements because once you're the best there's very little competition.

I know Federer is popular, but Kevin Durant plays a sport that is the most popular in China. If Tennis were top 3 there then yeah he'd probably be more know there, but I doubt that's the case. Also, the Forbes list doesn't tell you popularity globally, there was a point where Derrick Rose wasn't even top 20, and he was by far the most popular NBA player in China.

so you don't actually know and just judged by crowd pics at nike sponsored events.

 

[No Homo]

I just called my internet provider and asked for customer service in bangalore and they confirmed Federer,Nadal are popular sports figures in India and had no clue who Kevin Durant was...

 

[Malta]

so you don't actually know and just judged by crowd pics at nike sponsored events.

No, I judge it by things like this -

China Can't Get Enough Of The NBA



Give me a little more credit beloved, Kobe was also the most popular athlete there last year

 

[NSSVO]

This list is fukking garbage. How is Messi not RIGHT under CR7 or 1B? Whenever, I mean EVER, CR7 is brought up Messi is brought up. Phil is on there? Really? WTF

 

[Fly]

I dont know if basketball is bigger than tennis worldwide i might say no on that one...

exactly. Basketball is barely followed outside of the U.S. and in other countries its a niche sport like fukking hockey or the mls is to us.

Yall are both grossly misinformed. Not only is basketball more popular than tennis but only soccer is more popular than basketball Worldwide.

 

[Fenian]

Messi and Ronaldo are number 1 and 2 and its not even close, footballers, boxers, tennis stars then NBA players should dominate the list. In fact I'd argue the top 5 should be 70/80% footballers then have Lebron and a couple of tennis guys in there, federer, nadal, or Murray.

Phil Mickelson in the top 5 is a joke as well. He isn't even the most well known golfer in the world.

ESPN once again embarrass themselves and sports journalism in general.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Terrible list. Whats new?

 

[Montez]

Where did I say he wasn't?

I said Durant is probably more popular in China than him, especially now that he plays in the Bay....

That's fair but China isn't the only country in the world.

Durant vs. Federer
India -
Europe -
South America -
Africa -

Can see Fed being bigger in all the markets above.

 

[dappadonna]

Where is Wayne Rooney ?

 

[ALonelyDad]

Horrible list, should be a lot more soccer players on that list. Lol at Phil nickels on dude shouldn't even be top 100.

 

[010101]

motherfukkers need to get on the bandwagon for basketball
i been saying at every opportunity it's the most beautiful and dynamic ball game there is
football/soccer is more accesible and culturally ingrained worldwide it makes sense the atomic flea is #1

*

 

[RedEye Jedi]

With how many different languages I see Floyd cussed out on social media, how is he not on this list?