Sports in Canada

The sporting culture of Canada consists of a variety of games. Although there are many contests that Canadians value, the most common are ice hockey, Canadian football, basketball, soccer, and baseball.

Ice hockey, referred to as simply hockey in the country, is Canada's most prevalent winter sport,its most popular spectator sport, and its most successful sport in international competition. Lacrosse, a sport with Aboriginal origins, is Canada's oldest and official sport.

 Canadian football is Canada's second most popular spectator sport, and the Canadian Football League's annual championship, the Grey Cup, is the country's largest annual sports event. Association football, known in Canada as soccer in both English and French, has the most registered players of any sport in Canada, but has yet to enjoy the sustained popularity as a major professional sport. 

However, throughout the last two decades, soccer has showed an improvement in terms of popularity through its associations and club structures at the provincial and national levels.Other popular team sports include curling, street hockey, cricket, rugby and softball.

 Cricket is the fastest growing sport in Canada currently. Popular individual sports include auto racing, boxing, cycling, golf, hiking, horse racing, ice skating, rodeo, skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding, swimming, tennis, triathlon, track and field, water sports, and wrestling. As a country with a generally cool climate, Canada has enjoyed greater success at the Winter Olympics than at the Summer Olympics, although significant regional variations in climate allow for a wide variety of both team and individual sports. Major upcoming multi-sport events in Canada include the 2010 Winter Olympics.Great achievements in Canadian sport are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists.

The most popular sport in Canada is Ice Hockey; one of the players is Wayne Gratzky. Wayne is playing Centre on the Ice Hockey field, and his nickname is The Great One. After he retired, he became a part- of the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League. He has also been the club’s head coach and of hockey oprations.