While football is by far the world's greatest sport, it must be said that rugby and cricket are two sports that are growing bigger and bigger with each passing day. In particular, they get attention when it comes to championships. Here we compare how big the two sports are today.
People love big championships for several reasons. Not only because they are sporting highlights where the best go head to head with each other, but also because it brings people from several countries together. Championships are also favorites for those who like to bet on the big matches. The cricket world cup, which is growing increasingly big worldwide, is of course no exception. If you are planning to bet on the upcoming championship, there are betting apps that will provide you with everything you need to get started.
Cricket world cup – most TV viewership among the two
Many are looking forward to the cricket world cup 2022 which is scheduled to take place in October and November in Australia. During the pre-sale, many wanted to secure their place at the event, with more than 200,000 tickets sold across all 45 matches. Over 800,000 people are expected to show up on site in Australia and experience the excitement live.
The matches will also be broadcast on TV and streaming services around the world. There is no doubt that there is a growing interest in cricket, which is expected to grow outside the British Isles in Europe as well.
Cricket is a much older sport than rugby, and it reaches a wider audience, at least in terms of the number of households that follow the world championships. According to Stadium Talk, 2.2 billion watched the cricket world cup in 2019, while the rugby world cup 2019 had 857 million viewers.
Rugby world cup – the bigger event live
It may be that cricket is shown in more households, but when it comes to the total number of visitors during a world championship, rugby has far more spectators. The last cricket world cup, which was then held in India, had a total of 1.1 million spectators.
The last rugby World Cup, held in Japan, had a total attendance of 2.5 million spectators. Based on the attendance the rugby world cup is a far bigger live event than the cricket world cup.
In the comparison between rugby and cricket size we have to give them a victory each. Regardless, we can state that they are both two huge sports, which will become even bigger over time.
Rugby's most iconic world cup moment
We have already noted how enormous the breadth of rugby and cricket is, but what are the biggest moments of the two sports?
As Stadium Talk further highlights, both rugby and cricket have several legendary moments, but where one per sport stands out in the crowd. During the post-apartheid era, South Africa's rugby team became a strong symbol of hope when they beat New Zealand at home in the world cup in 1995 and won the prestigious trophy for the first time.
The great triumph led to none other than the country's former president Nelson Mandela giving South Africa's captain Francois Pienaar the championship trophy, which has become one of the country's biggest sporting moments in all categories. Since then, South Africa has won two more world rugby championships, in 2007 and 2019.
Cricket's most iconic world cup moment
When it comes to cricket's most iconic moment, we must highlight England's victory in the 2019 World Cup final, also in this case over New Zealand. As we have already said, the match that was played at Lord's in London was watched by more than 1.6 billion viewers. The excitement was total during the decisive match whose victory after a draw at regular time, eventually went to the home nation. The euphoria quickly became total when England finally managed to pinch the victory.
The number of spectators and the fact that England managed to win their first world championship in the history of cricket means that this is considered to be the sport's greatest moment.
When historical moments like these will be topped in rugby and cricket remains to be seen. Maybe it will happen already this year, or take several decades. Before the World Cup in cricket kicks off this autumn, the 2022 rugby world cup will take place at the Cape Town Stadium in South Africa between 9 and 11 September.
