Which are the 5 most popular sports in Slovenia?

[lafreak84]

Don't flatter yourself.

[Bori427]

I mean popular sports as in the most followed by people.

So the first two would be football and basketball?

[lafreak84]

We have three kinds of sports or groups of sports massively supported by majority. Football, basketball and winter sports in that order. The rest are just not popular enough to put them on the list.

[_VeNeT_]

Well, hockey has quite a large following in Slovenia, right behind (individual) winter sports. I think it would deserve to be on the list.

[lafreak84]

I can't tell apart the number of hockey, handball or volleyball followers. They all look equally weak to me. We only have one hockey team in Slovenia and even they play in Austrian league, so much about hockey popularity... I wouldn't put those sports on the list, might as well put swimming and dancing too but just because some people play/follow them doesn't mean they're popular throughout the country.

[_VeNeT_]

Hockey is well above swimming, dancing, volleyball etc. Maxybe not in Maribor, but in Ljubljana and gorenjska it's quite big. And we have two teams, not one.

[julij_cezar]

Originally Posted by _VeNeT_

And we have two teams, not one.

This is the same as saying there are only two teams in Primera Division. For example, Jan Muršak, NHL player, played in HDK Maribor before he went to Czech Republic. Yes, there are two big teams, both playing in EBEL League, but that doesn't mean there are no other teams...

Given the number of fans abroad I'd say hockey is definitely No. 3 (or 4).

1 - Football (Amsterdam, EC 2000) - 10.000 fans
2 - Basketball (Belgrade, EC 2005) - 8.000 fans
3 - Handball (Reka, EC 2000) - 4.000 fans
4 - Hockey (Bratislava, WC 2011) - 3.000 fans

Due to the proximity of Reka I'd say that 3.000 fans in Bratislava have biger meaning than 4.000 in Reka, so I'd put hockey on No.3.

[ratipok]

Originally Posted by Jure88

Hm... I think Alpine Skiing still is number one. Our ski resorts are always full on all of the nice winter weekends. Followed by football, Basketball, Ice Hockey and offcourse Handball.

Alpine skiing is not number one. Its football and perhaps it has allways been football. The problem is that in ex-Yugoslavia it was the Serbs, Croats etc. that were allways "teaching" Slovenians that they are only for skiiing and not for football (despite the fact that football clubs such as Olimpija, Maribor, Rudar Velenje or Koper.. allways had thousands of supporters on their matches even in lower tiers of Yugoslav football; it was not uncommon for Koper or Rudar to have 8.000 spectators on their stadiums and we all know that they never made it passed the second Yugoslav league). And it sure doesnt matter that the ski resorts are full (of foreign tourists) because there are a lot more people playing football or basketball during the summer months. Though, skiing is definetly top 5.

My opinion:
Football
Basketball
Skiing
Handball
Ice hockey

[ratipok]

Originally Posted by _VeNeT_

Hockey is well above swimming, dancing, volleyball etc. Maxybe not in Maribor, but in Ljubljana and gorenjska it's quite big. And we have two teams, not one.

I would say ice hockey isnt unpopular in Maribor, quite the opposite. The problem offcourse it that the eastern part of the country doesnt have a team that would play on a higher level (such as the EBEL league).

@lafreak84: I would say handball is definetly above volleyball and for sure in top 5. Slovenian handball league is quite solid and very close of being top 5 in Europe. EHF even considered it as a top 3 couple of seasons ago. Volleyball is just a current fling because of one top club who is doing well at the moment.