With so many sports in the mix these days, it’s interesting to see which ones come out on top in terms of attendance or viewership. While these numbers can vary greatly, they don’t always reflect the overall popularity of the sport.

Throughout the history of all held sports events, the four-year recurring tournaments always generate the most hype which leads to the largest crowd of people watching. It changes from year to year, which is why in this article, we’ll highlight the top five highest attended sporting events in the entire world, including where they occurred and why so many people attended the games.

Most attended sporting events in history

#5. 2023 Cricket World Cup – 1.25 million attendees

The 2023 Cricket World Cup was hosted by India, causing it to break its ceiling of spectators for the first time with a whopping 1.25 million people attending the events. Unlike many other sports, the Cricket World Cups were on the decline in attendance from 2015 up until 2022, where the 2023 tournament created a spike in in-person spectators, specifically the highest it’s ever seen, making it one of the top five highest attended sporting events in history.

#4. 2023 Rugby World Cup – 2 million attendees

Beating out the 2023 Cricket World Cup with 2.4 million attendees counted, the 2023 Rugby World Cup occurred in France with an average attendance of 51,000 per game. Many fans were excited to see defending champions South Africa go for another repeat title from their 2019 bout against England. In the end, South Africa would be declared back-to-back champions and the Rugby World Cup would break live-spectating records, going down as one of the top five highest attended sporting events ever.

#3. 2022 FIFA World Cup – 3.4 million attendees

Taking place for the first time in the relatively newer country of Qatar, the 2022 FIFA World Cup pulled in live spectators like crazy. The World Cup would continue its record-breaking trend for the 2022 tournament with over 3.4 million attendees buying tickets to games throughout all the stadium venues. To put it in perspective, the matches averaged 96% of stadium capacity, meaning nearly every game was sold out. With so many people attending the games in person, it’s no doubt the 2022 FIFA World Cup was one of the top five highest attended sporting events in the world.

#2. 1996 Summer Olympics – 8.3 million attendees

While we can expect the number from the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics to be higher or higher than the previous Olympics, the 1996 Summer Centennial Olympics would go down as one of the most attended events since the history of its creation. While in recent years (excluding the 2024 games) the Olympics hasn’t pulled in as many views, the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia would pull in nearly 8.3 million attendees for all the events. It was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records that over 500,000 people would attend the games each day, making it one of the top five highest attended sporting events in all of the Olympics and any sport for that matter.

#1. 2023 Tour de France – 12 million attendees

The prestigious 2021 Tour de France is hands down the most attended major sports event in all sports we could analyze. Over 21 days, spectators totaling nearly 12 million would gather on the sidelines to watch their favorite cyclists zoom by to win a long-distance race. Interestingly though, the Tour de France is the only annual tournament on this list, which makes it even more surprising to see just how many fans come out to support the tournament every year as opposed to every four. Pulling 12 million attendants and climbing is incredible, making the Tour de France one of the top five highest attended sporting events on the globe.