List of Most Popular Sports in Colombia

The most popular sport in Colombia is soccer. Like in many other Latin countries, soccer represents a culture and way of life in Colombia. When the national team is playing, the entire day is devoted to cheering them on. Many employers will even allow their workers to leave early to catch the start of the game, and a win leads to a huge celebration. According to FIFA, Colombia has over three million active soccer players.

The most-watched sporting event in Colombia is any game the national soccer team plays in. The national team has tens of millions of supporters, and fans from all over the country celebrate in the biggest way when their team wins. In 2018, the World Cup match between Colombia and Poland had an average of 7.9 million viewers, one of the most-watched World Cup matches of the year.

The national sport of Colombia is tejo. Though soccer may be the most popular, tejo is the sport most steeped in culture for Colombians. The sport is also referred to as turmequé, which has been played in Colombia for nearly 500 years. Tejo is one of the most unique sports in the world. It involves throwing weighted steel discs (known as tejos) towards a metal ring (called a bocin) that is full of stuffed gunpowder objects called mechas. These mechas explode on impact, providing a flair to the game that keeps players focused on the target.