Study: Football again named Latvia’s most popular sport this year

According to the results of a study conducted by the media agency Mindshare, Latvia’s residents ranked football as the most popular sport in 2018. The extensive “Latvian Sports Ranking” was compiled for the seventh time this autumn, bringing together data on current developments and trends in the sports sector since 2009. This year, the study analysed 55 sports, whose popularity index was determined on the basis of the public’s active and passive participation, statistical indicators for the sports, as well as the total audience of sporting events on television and the internet.

The study, which has become a regular tradition, was conducted by compiling surveys of the population and publicly available data, and assessing the sector’s dynamics over the past ten years according to a common methodology. The latest study results show that football, the ranking’s leader, has risen one place compared with two years ago, when the previous study was conducted, leaving basketball in second place. Athletics, meanwhile, ranks third, having fallen two places from its 2016 position. The collected results allow us to conclude that during this period as well, the popularity of sports was largely influenced by major global events in the world of sport, as well as the achievements of Latvian athletes. Football’s high ranking can be explained by the World Cup held in Russia this year, as well as by the sport’s broad accessibility and the fact that the number of athletes registered with the Football Federation has now reached nearly 17,000, while the corresponding figure is considerably lower in basketball, ice hockey and athletics.

When assessing the public’s active and passive participation in various sports, the study examined both the sports that residents had practised themselves during the past year and those they followed on a daily basis. Thus, athletics, swimming and cycling were recognised as the favourite sports activities of physically active residents of Latvia, while ice hockey, football and basketball topped the ranking of spectators of live and televised sporting events. This year’s most popular events on television were the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup and the Ice Hockey World Championship. The survey shows that 60% of Latvia’s residents aged 15 to 74 had engaged in sport at least once a month during the past year, including 40% who did so once a week or more often. Younger men aged up to 34 were more active. Another important indicator is the involvement of the younger generation: despite the fact that the total number of young people aged 10 to 19 in the country has fallen significantly since 2009, the proportion of students at sports institutions reached unprecedentedly high levels last year, demonstrating the increasingly important role of sporting activities.

“Across all demographic groups in Latvia, 70–80% of residents follow sporting events. Depending on their achievements or the public’s interest, athletes’ clothing carries between two and as many as ten different sponsors. This shows that there is interest in sport from both sides—from the audience and from brands that want to use sport in their marketing. The aim of our study is to provide a rational basis for decisions on investments in sponsoring sporting events, as well as to assist marketing specialists with various tools and our long-standing experience in sports marketing, which we have been developing since 2009,” comments Ansis Štāls, head of the media agency Mindshare.

According to the survey results, residents would most often be prepared to recognise the young tennis player Jeļena Ostapenko (11.3%), boxer Mairis Briedis (10%) and basketball player Kristaps Porziņģis (7.8%) as Sports Personality of the Year; all three have demonstrated outstanding performance in the context of international sporting competitions. Among sporting events held in Latvia, the best-known, as in previous years, was the Lattelecom Riga Marathon, of which 73% of respondents were aware. More than half, or 51%, of residents had also heard of the ZZ Championship, and almost as many (50%) knew of the Ghetto Games competitions. Among Latvian athletes who actively communicate on the social network Instagram, Kristaps Porziņģis has the largest number of followers, followed in second place by ice hockey player Zemgus Girgensons and street workout athlete Daniels Laizāns. Meanwhile, among profiles of people associated with sport, Renārs Zeltiņš, Armands Simsons and Māris Šlēziņš are clear leaders.

Taking into account the directions of development in the sports industry, this year, for the first time in the history of the survey, data on e-sports was also analysed. E-sports encompasses computer games featuring competitive and team-based ranking elements. Ten per cent of respondents said they had engaged in e-sports, while a further 11% had followed related events. Younger male respondents aged up to 34 were more likely to be interested in this sport, which can be explained by the great popularity of computer devices and the online environment among members of this social group. Ranked in the overall participation ranking of Latvia’s residents, e-sports earns a relatively high eighth place, and its position is expected to continue rising in the coming years, as it is doing elsewhere in the world.