“Who watches cricket” – Kevin De Bruyne Laughs Off Cricket as 2nd Most Popular Sport

English Premier League (EPL) club Manchester City and Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne has laughed-off cricket as the 2nd most popular sport in Europe when he was told that Cricket is the 2nd most popular sport in European continent after football.

Football is the most popular sport in the world which is played almost in every country in the world. The debate is still on as for which is the 2nd most popular sport in the world, with cricket right in the conversation.

Cricket as a sport is like a religion in most Indian subcontinent. However, over the last few decades, cricket’s popularity has seemingly increased around the world. Almost most of the European countries, African countries play the game of bat and ball.

Meanwhile, star football player and current Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne was shocked when he learned that cricket is the 2nd most popular sport in Europe after football and couldn’t agree with it.

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and his teammate James McAtee recent was part of a fun segment called “AI Showdown” for Manchester City. The challenge for them was to name top 5 most popular sports across Europe.

Then, they revealed the result according to an AI survey, Football topped as the most popular sport in Europe, but Cricket came as 2nd followed by Basketball, Tennis and Formula One (F1). However, De Bruyne was shocked to know that Cricket is the 2nd most popular sport in Europe.

Kevin De Bruyne’s reaction was, “How can cricket be second on the list? That’s a lie. I don’t know anybody in Europe who watches cricket, let’s be honest.” When the show host persisted that cricket is really the 2nd most popular sport in Europe, De Bruyne said he almost watches every other sports except for Cricket, “Who? European people? No. Yeah, I watch everything else except cricket.”

Cricket in Europe

Well cricket might not be as popular as football in Europe, but it has been growing in stature over the years, with the growth of the European Cricket Council (ECC) playing a big role. England is currently the biggest European team in the game.

But now there is a total of 33 European members associated with the International Cricket Council (ICC), the the governing body of the game. The likes of Netherlands, Scotland and Ireland have been pushing to become its top associate nation. However, nations like Italy, Spain, France, Australia, Belgium, Germany have growing in stature.

Cricket has especially gained popularity on European countries where there is a big number of South Asian Community living there.