Sports is the most popular form of entertainment. If you take a look at the number of spectators for every match, you will see that millions of people around the world see these. But that doesn’t mean that all disciplines are equally popular. For instance, we all know that football, or soccer, is the most popular one. Once again, there are some countries where this sport is not considered the most popular one, as the United States.
So, you can see that there are a lot of layers when we are talking about this concept. There is one space where all of these disciplines are in one place. We are talking about online gambling sites. If you want to check one of these sites, be sure to take a look at MightyTips. Nowadays, there are more disciplines than we can count. One of the most interesting ones is certainly hockey.
It needs to be said that hockey is not considered to be highly popular, but that doesn’t mean that it is not an interesting one. Now, let’s take a look at some of the countries that have the tradition of being successful at this sport. Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of these.
1. Canada
Without any doubt, Canada is the country where hockey is considered a national sport. There is no other discipline that attracts more people than this one. Younger generations are nurtured to love it. The biggest reason why this is the case, but it is not the only one, is that Canada has the most gold medals at Olympics in this discipline. It has 13 gold medals, so far. They are the most successful nation at this sport.
Plus, we can see that probably the greatest player of all time, Wayne Gretzky, comes from this country. Without any doubt, Canadians love it because they are great at this discipline. Its popularity translates to a high number of seasonal tickets sold to the spectators. Plus, the income from broadcasting these matches comes in billions. You can see that Canada is the place where this sport is best nurtured.
2. Russia
Russia is another country where hockey is considered an important sport. Even the Soviet Union has a long tradition of success. But Russia has witnessed an increase of great players who were competing in the best league in the world, the NHL. Not only that, Russians love hockey, and there are a lot of spectators in their national league. Plus, their teams are usually the most lucrative ones on the old continent.
The popularity of this sport has started back in the middle of the 20th century when the Soviet Union was easily among the top three national teams in the world. When it comes to their Olympic results, Russia is not as successful as USSR was. However, these previous results have been so significant that the popularity of the sport has stuck to the country that has entered the 21st country.
3. Sweden
The next country we are talking about is Sweden. We are talking about a national team that has managed to win a gold medal at the Olympics held in Turin back in 2006. However, the times weren’t as good as in the previous years. In 2002, they didn’t succeed to win a medal. But we can see that Sweden is regular in the final tournament at the Olympics.
At the same time, we can see that their national league is highly competitive, and it has numerous domestic and foreign players who can be described as top-notch. Above all, we can see that the connection between people’s interest in this sport and Sweden is a country where winter is predominant weather due to the low temperatures. Anyway, we can see that the younger generation simply loves this sport.
4. Finland
Finland is a place where hockey is thought to be one of the national sports. Plus, we can see that the Finnish national team is considered one of the best ones in the world. They rarely disappoint their fans. It has a lot of gold medals won at the Olympics. So, the euphoria about this discipline in Finland started back in 1938 when their team won its first gold medal. Therefore, the love for it is still big.
Not only that, we can see that competing with other big nations in this sport can be described as some kind of national pride for the Finnish people. The reason is that Finland is a country that has slightly more than six million population. Also, we can see that there are a lot of top players who are of Finnish descent. All of these factors represent a combination that plays a crucial role in hockey’s popularity.
5. The United States
Last but not least, we would like to talk about a nation that is home to the best hockey league in the world, the United States. Despite this, we can see that the number of Americans who were in this league was pretty small. In the 2000s, we can see that the number of Americans who have started playing in these teams. Therefore, the national team has become a powerhouse that competes with other nations quite well.
Also, there are a lot of highly competitive players who come from the United States. There are so many of them that they often leave the country and go to Europe where they are among the top players in their teams. All of these factors are saying that the United States has the potential to become a top nation in this sport in the future. We have no doubt the competition is going to be steep.
The Verdict
As is the case with every sport, there are a couple of countries where hockey is held in the highest regard. Here, you can take a look at some of these examples. All of these nations have a tradition of being successful at this discipline, and all of them have managed to win a lot of Olympic medals. If we would need to decide on a country that is the most famous because of this sport, we would say Canada.
