Popularity ranking · South Africa

The 100 most popular Sports in South Africa

This curated ranking covers the 100 largest sports in South Africa, ordered by estimated audience size from Rascasse's anonymized search-behavior signals. Out of 440 sports tracked in South Africa, the 100 ranked here account for the largest measured audience reach. Soccer, Golf and Basketball lead the list with a combined estimated audience of 8.1M people. Across all 100 entries the average audience size is 420k, and the largest, Soccer, reaches around 3.9M people in South Africa. Audience size is the estimated number of unique people in South Africa who actively engage with each sport, derived from search demand signals. Rankings reflect search-behavior signals collected across South Africa and are refreshed weekly.

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How to read this list

Rank

Position in the Top 100, sorted by audience size from largest to smallest. Updated weekly.

Audience size

Estimated number of unique people in South Africa who actively engage with this audience, derived from anonymized search-behavior signals.

Country share

Share of the global audience that is active in South Africa. A higher value means the audience is more locally concentrated here.

Avg age

Average age in years across the people who engage with this audience in South Africa, derived from anonymized search-behavior signals. A dash means demographic data is not yet available.

Female share

Share of women among the people who engage with this audience in South Africa. 50% is gender-balanced; values above mean female-skewed, below mean male-skewed.

Ranking

Rank Audience Audience size Avg age Female share Subtype
51 Rallying 212k 37.4 24.2% Sport
52 Pool (cue sports) 210k 36.4 36.6% Sport
53 Wakeboarding 208k 33.7 44.0% Sport
54 Windsurfing 188k 38.6 42.5% Sport
55 5K run 186k 39.0 52.4% Sport
56 Bicycle touring 185k 39.8 39.3% Sport
57 Freestyle swimming 180k 35.0 63.9% Sport
58 Natural bodybuilding 180k 34.2 38.4% Sport
59 Paddleboarding 176k 40.7 44.3% Sport
60 Angling 175k 40.9 38.4% Sport
61 Triathlons 174k 38.5 46.0% Sport
62 Middle-distance running 174k 38.6 52.8% Sport
63 BMX 157k 31.1 38.1% Sport
64 Fencing 155k 42.0 36.3% Sport
65 Pilates 155k 40.5 66.4% Sport
66 Bowling 153k 32.9 57.9% Sport
67 Parachuting 151k 40.5 48.5% Sport
68 Karate 150k 35.5 20.2% Sport
69 Rafting 150k 40.8 48.8% Sport
70 Standup paddleboarding 146k 39.8 42.3% Sport
71 Half marathon 142k 39.5 48.7% Sport
72 Freediving 141k 39.4 45.1% Sport
73 Judo 140k 33.6 18.9% Sport
74 Alpine skiing 131k 36.0 44.5% Sport
75 Kart racing 129k 35.2 31.2% Sport

Want the full picture for any of these audiences?

Open any profile to see psychographics, top regions, peer affinities and demographic splits — all derived from the same anonymized signals.

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Frequently asked questions

How is this list of the most popular sports compiled?

Rascasse aggregates anonymized search-behavior signals across South Africa and ranks each sport by its estimated audience size. Only entries with at least 5 measured entities are listed.

How often is the list updated?

The ranking is refreshed weekly from the latest search-behavior data and re-published as a static page.

What is the largest sport in South Africa?

Soccer currently leads with an estimated audience of 3.9M people in South Africa.

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