Sports in Canada consist of a wide variety of games. The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s,[1] culminating in the development and popularization of the major professional games of ice hockey, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, soccer, football and cricket.[2] Canada's official national sports are ice hockey (winter official) and lacrosse (summer official).[3] Golf, baseball, tennis, skiing, ringette, badminton, cricket, volleyball, cycling, swimming, bowling, rugby union, canoeing, curling, squash, and the study of martial arts are widely enjoyed at the youth and amateur levels.[4] Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame,[5] while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists.[6] There are numerous other Sports Halls of Fame in Canada.[5]
Canada shares several major professional sports leagues with the United States.[7] Canadian teams in these leagues include seven franchises in the National Hockey League, as well as three Major League Soccer teams and one team in each of Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. Other popular professional sports in Canada include Canadian football, which is played in the Canadian Football League, National Lacrosse League lacrosse, and curling.[8]
Canada has enjoyed greater success at the Winter Olympics than at the Summer Olympics[9] and has hosted several high-profile international sporting events, including the 1976 Summer Olympics,[10] the 1988 Winter Olympics,[11] the 1994 Basketball World Championship,[12] the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup,[13] the 2010 Winter Olympics[14][15] and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.[16] Most recently, Canada hosted the 2015 Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto, the former being one of the largest sporting event hosted by the country.[17] The country is also scheduled to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, alongside Mexico and the United States.[18]
^Roxborough, Henry (1975). The Beginning of Organized Sport in Canada. pp. 30–43.
^Lindsay, Peter; West, J. Thomas (September 30, 2016). "Canadian Sports History". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
^"National Sports of Canada Act". Government of Canada. November 5, 2015. Archived from the original on November 24, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
^"Canadian sport participation – Most frequently played sports in Canada (2010)" (PDF). Government of Canada. 2013. p. 34. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 10, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
^ abVictor J. Danilov (1997). Hall of fame museums: a reference guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-313-30000-4.
^Edward Zawadzki (2001). The Ultimate Canadian Sports Trivia Book. Dundurn Press Ltd. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-88882-237-6.
^Butenko, Sergiy; Gil-Lafuente, Jaime; Pardalos, Panos M. (2010). Optimal Strategies in Sports Economics and Management. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 42–44. ISBN 978-3-642-13205-6.
^Morrow, Don; Wamsley, Kevin B. (2016). Sport in Canada: A History. Oxford University Press. pp. xxi–intro. ISBN 978-0-19-902157-4.
^Mallon, Bill; Heijmans, Jeroen (2011). Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement. Scarecrow Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-8108-7522-7.
^Howell, Paul Charles (2009). Montreal Olympics: An Insider's View of Organizing a Self-financing Games. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-7735-7656-8.
^Horne, John; Whannel, Garry (2016). Understanding the Olympics. Routledge. p. 157. ISBN 978-1-317-49519-2.
^Blevins, David (2012). The Sports Hall of Fame Encyclopedia: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Soccer. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 1222. ISBN 978-0-8108-6130-5.
^Parent, Milena M.; Chappelet, Jean-Loup (February 20, 2015). Routledge Handbook of Sports Event Management. Taylor & Francis. p. 464. ISBN 978-1-135-10437-5.
^United States Senate Subcommittee on Trade, Tourism and Economic Development (January 2006). The Economic Impact of the 2010 Vancouver, Canada, Winter Olympics on Oregon and the Pacific Northwest: hearing before the Subcommittee on Trade, Tourism, and Economic Development of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session, August 5, 2005. U.S. G.P.O. ISBN 978-0-16-076789-0.
^Fromm, Zuzana (2006). Economic Issues of Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Olympics. Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-197843-0.
^Temporary Importations Using the FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 Remission Order. Canada Border Services Agency. 2015.
^Peterson, David (July 10, 2014). "Why Toronto should get excited about the Pan Am Games". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020.
^"World Cup 2026: Canada, US & Mexico joint bid wins right to host tournament". BBC Sport. June 13, 2018. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
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