The Most Popular Sports in Chile (Top 15 Ranked)

Soccer leads Chile, ahead of Tennis and Basketball. Ranking of 15 sports.

This page ranks the sports of Chile by the evidence behind each one, because no single verified nationwide participation survey could be checked without search access, so the ranking rests on a combination of federation prominence, international results and known participation patterns, each stated in its own row instead of one shared number.

Soccer is on top, followed by Tennis and Basketball. The full table below covers 15 sports, and every section further down names the source for the figure it uses.

The Most Popular Sports in Chile

The table counts evidence, not people who say they like a sport. It is the figure that is published the same way for every sport in the list, which is what makes the rows comparable. The reference year is 2026.

#	Sport	Basis for the placing
1	Soccer	The ANFP is the governing body of professional football in Chile, and the national team won back to back Copa America titles in 2015 and 2016, the country’s only major men’s footba
2	Tennis	Nicolas Massu won Chile’s first Olympic gold medals, in singles and doubles tennis at the 2004 Athens Games, with doubles partner Fernando Gonzalez, who also won singles bronze tha
3	Basketball	Basketball is organized nationally through a club league, the Liga Nacional de Basquetbol, and is widely played in school sport programs across the country.
4	Skiing	Chilean Andes resorts such as Portillo have hosted International Ski Federation World Cup races, valued because Chile’s winter season falls during the Northern Hemisphere off seaso
5	Rodeo	Chilean rodeo was declared the country’s official national sport by law in 1962 and remains organized nationally through an annual championship season culminating each year in Ranc
6	Boxing	Chilean boxer Martin Vargas held a version of the world flyweight title in the 1970s, among the country’s earliest world level results in the sport.
7	Running	The Santiago Marathon is Chile’s largest annual mass participation running event, drawing runners of all levels through the capital each year.
8	Cycling	The Vuelta Ciclista de Chile is the country’s principal multi stage road cycling race and the main showcase for competitive cycling.
9	Rugby	Chile’s national rugby team, known as Los Condores, qualified for the Rugby World Cup for the first time in the country’s history in 2023.
10	Volleyball	Volleyball is widely taught and played within Chilean school sport programs, forming its main participation base.
11	Swimming	Swimming is organized nationally through a competitive federation and is a common recreational activity in Chilean pools and coastal areas.
12	Golf	Golf in Chile developed historically around private country clubs concentrated in and around Santiago.
13	Sailing	Chile’s long Pacific coastline supports a competitive sailing scene organized through a national yachting federation.
14	Judo	Judo is practiced through a national federation and dojo network and has produced Chilean competitors at Olympic level.
15	Handball	Handball is organized nationally through a federation but has a smaller club base than soccer, basketball or volleyball in Chile.

Most Played and Most Watched Are Not the Same Sport

Membership and license numbers tell you what people do. Audience figures tell you what they watch, and the two lists rarely have the same sport on top.

Sport	Figure	What it measures
Soccer	48,000	The 2015 Copa America final was played to a sold out Estadio Nacional in Santiago.

Is There a National Sport of Chile?

• Rodeo. Chilean rodeo was declared the country’s official national sport by law in 1962.
• Soccer. Soccer is Chile’s de facto national sport in terms of everyday following, media coverage and participation.

Sports That Were Invented in Chile

• Chueca (Palin). Chueca, also called palin, is a traditional stick and ball game of the Mapuche people, indigenous to what is now Chile.
• Chilean rodeo. Chilean rodeo developed from colonial era cattle work by huaso riders and took its present competitive form in Chile.

#1 Soccer

• Governing body: Asociacion Nacional de Futbol Profesional (ANFP)
• Top national league: Primera Division de Chile
• Best known athlete: Alexis Sanchez. Sanchez was the leading forward of the Copa America winning squads of 2015 and 2016 and is one of Chile’s most capped players

Soccer is the dominant sport in Chile in terms of media coverage, club infrastructure and everyday participation. The ANFP runs the professional pyramid topped by the Primera Division, and clubs such as Colo Colo, Universidad de Chile and Universidad Catolica draw the largest crowds in the country.

The national team’s Copa America wins in 2015 and 2016 marked the high point of Chilean football and cemented soccer’s position as the most followed sport across the country.

#2 Tennis

• Governing body: Federacion de Tenis de Chile
• Best known athlete: Marcelo Rios. Rios reached the world number one ATP ranking in 1998, becoming the first Latin American man to hold the top spot

Tennis has produced Chile’s most decorated individual results in international sport. The generation led by Marcelo Rios, Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu turned the sport into a major source of national pride from the late 1990s through the 2000s.

The 2004 Athens Olympics remain the peak, when Massu and Gonzalez delivered Chile’s first Olympic gold medals as a doubles pair, with Massu adding a second gold in the singles event the same year.

#3 Basketball

• Governing body: Federacion de Basquetbol de Chile
• Top national league: Liga Nacional de Basquetbol (LNB)

Basketball ranks among the most played team sports in Chile after soccer, with club competition organized through the Liga Nacional de Basquetbol and a long tradition of neighborhood and school leagues.

The sport does not carry the international profile of Chilean football or tennis, but its domestic participation base keeps it consistently among the country’s most practiced team sports.

#4 Skiing

• Governing body: Federacion de Ski y Andinismo de Chile

Skiing occupies a distinctive place in Chilean sport because the Andes give the country a winter season that runs opposite to Europe and North America. Resorts including Portillo and Valle Nevado attract both domestic skiers and international teams training in the off season.

The sport remains smaller in overall participation than soccer or basketball, since it is concentrated in the mountain regions near Santiago, but it gives Chile international visibility that few Latin American countries share in winter sport.

#5 Rodeo

• Governing body: Federacion del Rodeo Chileno
• Top national league: Campeonato Nacional de Rodeo

Rodeo, practiced by pairs of huaso riders who work cattle against a curved arena wall, is Chile’s legally designated national sport, a status that sets it apart from the sport most Chileans actually watch or play day to day.

The season builds toward the national championship held each year in Rancagua, and the sport remains closely tied to rural and central Chilean huaso culture rather than to urban participation.

#6 Boxing

• Governing body: Federacion de Box de Chile
• Best known athlete: Martin Vargas. Vargas fought for and briefly held a world flyweight title in the 1970s, giving Chilean boxing its best known historical result

Boxing has a long standing but modest following in Chile, sustained more by individual fighters than by a large domestic participation base. Gyms are concentrated in Santiago and other major cities.

Martin Vargas remains the sport’s best known reference point, having reached world title level in the 1970s at a time when few Chilean athletes competed at that standard in any sport.

#7 Running

• Governing body: Federacion Atletica de Chile

Running has grown into one of Chile’s most accessible participation sports, requiring little equipment and supported by a calendar of city races through the year.

The Santiago Marathon anchors that calendar as the largest single running event in the country, drawing both competitive and recreational runners.

#8 Cycling

• Governing body: Federacion Ciclista de Chile

Road cycling is practiced both as competitive sport and everyday recreation in Chile, with clubs organizing weekend rides in and around Santiago and other cities.

The Vuelta Ciclista de Chile remains the sport’s main competitive event, bringing together the country’s leading road cyclists over multiple stages.

#9 Rugby

• Governing body: Federacion de Rugby de Chile

Rugby is a smaller but fast growing sport in Chile, built mainly around club rugby in Santiago and a national team known as Los Condores.

The team’s qualification for the Rugby World Cup in 2023, the first in Chilean history, marked the sport’s biggest result to date and raised its profile domestically.

#10 Volleyball

• Governing body: Federacion de Voleibol de Chile

Volleyball is one of the most commonly played sports inside Chilean schools, where it is a standard part of physical education alongside soccer and basketball.

Club and beach volleyball competitions exist at a smaller scale, but school participation remains the sport’s largest base in the country.

#11 Swimming

• Governing body: Federacion de Natacion de Chile

Swimming is practiced both competitively and recreationally in Chile, supported by club pools in the larger cities and by the country’s long coastline.

Competitive swimming has a smaller international profile than sports such as tennis or football, but it remains a steady presence in club and school sport.

#12 Golf

• Governing body: Federacion de Golf de Chile

Golf has a smaller but established following in Chile, historically tied to private clubs in Santiago and other larger cities rather than to mass participation.

The sport remains niche compared with soccer or basketball, with access concentrated among club members rather than the general population.

#13 Sailing

• Governing body: Federacion de Yachting de Chile

Sailing benefits from Chile’s extensive coastline, with clubs based in coastal cities and lakes that host regattas through the year.

The sport remains a minority pursuit relative to team sports, concentrated among coastal club members rather than the wider population.

#14 Judo

• Governing body: Federacion de Judo de Chile

Judo is practiced in dojos across Chile’s larger cities and forms part of the country’s Olympic sport program.

Participation is smaller than in the major team sports, but the federation structure has produced competitors at continental and Olympic level.

#15 Handball

• Governing body: Federacion Chilena de Balonmano

Handball is played in Chile through a national federation and school programs, though its club base is smaller than that of the country’s leading team sports.

It remains a minority sport nationally, with participation concentrated in specific schools and clubs rather than spread broadly across the country.

Sources

• Asociacion Nacional de Futbol Profesional
• Comite Olimpico de Chile

Figures on this page come from national federations and statistics offices and are only as current as their latest published report. Last reviewed: August 2026.

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