Sport in Europe

Sport in Europe tends to be highly organized with many sports having professional leagues. The origins of many of the world's most popular sports today lie in the codification of many traditional games, especially in Great Britain. However, a paradoxical feature of European sport is the remarkable extent to which local, regional and national variations continue to exist, and even in some instances to predominate.

Association football (also known as soccer) is the most popular sport in almost all European countries. European national teams have won 11 of 20 editions of the FIFA World Cup. They also compete in the UEFA European Championship since 1960. UEFA, the regional governing body, also organizes the UEFA Women's Championship since 1984.

The most popular and successful football leagues are the Spanish La Liga, the English Premier League, the Italian Serie A and the German Bundesliga. The top clubs in each league play the UEFA Champions League.

Rugby union is popular in southern France, southern England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and northern Italy. Although the game is played competitively in Germany, Russia, Romania and Georgia, it is not at a fully professional level.

Europe's main competition for national teams is the Six Nations Championship, first held in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship. The other European national teams play at the Rugby Europe International Championships. The England national teams is the only European team to have won the Rugby World Cup, whereas France was runner-up three times and Wales reached the semifinals once.

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