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[Other Sport] Who Is The Most Famous Sportsman In The World?

Who Is The Most Famous Sportsman In The World?

  • Tiger Woods

    Votes: 7 7.0%
  • Ayrton Senna

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Michael Schumacher

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Muhammad Ali

    Votes: 60 60.0%
  • Pele

    Votes: 11 11.0%
  • Usain Bolt

    Votes: 9 9.0%
  • Please Name

    Votes: 13 13.0%

  • Total voters
    100
  • Poll closed .


Waynflete

Well-known member
Nov 10, 2009
1,105
might be an argument for the snooker player Ding then

Nah, even if every single Chinese national knows who he is (they won't), plus a few people from other countries like the UK, that's still only about 1.5bn people out of a global population of 7bn+. That will be massively outweighed by the number of Chinese, Indian, Brazilian, Mexican, Nigerian, Egyptian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Ethiopian, Argentinian, German and basically every other nationality of person who has heard of Ronaldo or Messi.
 






Tyrone Biggums

Well-known member
Jun 25, 2006
13,498
Geelong, Australia
If 'most famous' is defined as 'person most people in the world have heard of' then it's going to be someone with name recognition across the most populous countries, isn't it.

So, who is recognised across China, India, Brazil, US, Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ethiopia etc.? On that basis it's not going to be someone like Tendulkar because, despite his demi-god status in India, he's not going to be known in Brazil, North America, most of Europe or much of Africa.

Also, global populations skew young. There are a lot of young people in India, Nigeria etc. People like Ali may have an extraordinary place in history, but do kids below the age of 20 really know who he was? Even Beckham... he's been off the scene for ten years so there will be a whole load of kids who may not know who he is.

The sport that crosses most geographies and most ages is football. So I reckon it's the most famous current (not historical) footballer. I'm going Messi.

I'm betting Michael Jordan or LeBron James is just as famous as Messi.

NBA is huge in Asia and Africa.

Added both have been in movies and tied to pop culture heavily.

NBA players are viewed as being far cooler than football players with younger demographics. Especially when they are well over 6ft and associated with a highly popular culture worldwide compared to a short unassuming looking guy.

Basketball not being a hugely popular sport in the UK probably skews ones vision of how huge the NBA is world wide with fans. Even in Europe there's plenty of basketball players whose popularity in their own nation rivals any footballer I that same country.
 


Waynflete

Well-known member
Nov 10, 2009
1,105
I'm betting Michael Jordan or LeBron James is just as famous as Messi.

NBA is huge in Asia and Africa.

Added both have been in movies and tied to pop culture heavily.

NBA players are viewed as being far cooler than football players with younger demographics. Especially when they are well over 6ft and associated with a highly popular culture worldwide compared to a short unassuming looking guy.

Basketball not being a hugely popular sport in the UK probably skews ones vision of how huge the NBA is world wide with fans. Even in Europe there's plenty of basketball players whose popularity in their own nation rivals any footballer I that same country.

Maybe. But I don't think anyone seriously argues that basketball is globally more popular than football, do they?
 










schmunk

Why oh why oh why?
Jan 19, 2018
10,341
Mid mid mid Sussex
Surprised Tom Brady hasn't been mentioned yet....

Which one was he...?

Brady_Bunch.jpg
 
































Dave the OAP

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
46,761
at home
Sachin tendulkar must be up there.

Footballer I would have thought at the moment must be Lionel Messi.

Baz Savage gets an honourable mench though. He is a hero!
 


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