I had a pretty good idea that football was the most popular sport  in the world, boasting the biggest number of fans.

I can't  remember the site where I got these figures  from, but I was interested to see where cricket lay in world popularity as a sport?

1. Football - 3.5 billion global fans. 

2. Cricket - 2.5 billion global fans.

3. Basketball - 2.2 billion fans.

4. Hockey - 2 million global fans.

In another article in the top 10 most popular sports in terms  of participation, after stirring a mate of mine who is a volleyball player that it was a minor sport, surprisingly, volleyball, badminton and lawn bowls, joined the aforementioned big 4 as  being in the top 10 participant sports.

Why then, in Australia, do the egg ball codes of AFL, union and league, take up so much column space and air time?  They are insignificant globally in terms of participation - and - fan base.

Why does our own domestic Aussie football also assume such a low media profile?

I'm not watching as much domestic football as I was, but many of the objectives set by the then Football Fed Tech Dept, about 12 years ago, are being achieved in the A L. And from what I've seen in women's football, the Matildas.   

Wonder where 2.5 billion comes for cricket. There's 1.5 billion Indians but surely not everyone watches cricket. Lets take 1 billion at the high end. Where does the 1.5 billion come from for the rest of the world?

Australia. South Africa, New Zealand, England and a few other joints. That 2.5 billion number is way wrong.

As for why football has such a low media profile this has been discussed ad nauseum in these pages.

There are 84 countries with a world ranking by the ICC in T20 cricket.  All but 6 have played international games in the last 12 months.  Number of games ranges between 12 and 48.

Asia is a big target for growth with an aim to grow the game in China especially Shanghai.  The game is played in 21 universities and it is said that 1,000,000 students know the game and players play at least once a week.

The US is another target market and along with the West Indies will co-host the 2024 T20 World Cup.