United Kingdom

=== Sport ===
{{Main|Sport in the United Kingdom|Great Britain at the Olympics}}
[[File:City vs United FA Cup final 2023.jpg|thumb|right|The [[2023 FA Cup final]] at [[Wembley Stadium]] between [[Manchester City]] and [[Manchester United]]]]
[[File:Old 18th tee lr.jpg|thumb|right|Golf originated from the [[Old Course at St Andrews]] in Scotland.]]

[[Association football]], [[tennis]], [[table tennis]], [[badminton]], [[rugby union]], [[rugby league]], [[rugby sevens]], [[golf]], [[boxing]], [[netball]], [[water polo]], [[field hockey]], [[English billiards|billiards]], [[darts]], [[Rowing (sport)|rowing]], [[rounders]] and [[cricket]] originated or were substantially developed in the UK, with the rules and codes of many modern sports invented and codified in late 19th-century [[Victorian Britain]].{{efn|In 2012, the President of the IOC, [[Jacques Rogge]], stated, "This great, sports-loving country is widely recognised as the birthplace of modern sport. It was here that the concepts of sportsmanship and fair play were first codified into clear rules and regulations. It was here that sport was included as an educational tool in the school curriculum".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Games_London_2012/London_2012_Opening_ceremony_Speech_Jacques_Rogge.pdf |title=Opening Ceremony of the Games of the XXX Olympiad |website=Olympic.org |access-date=30 November 2013 |date=27 July 2012 |archive-date=19 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819135346/http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Games_London_2012/London_2012_Opening_ceremony_Speech_Jacques_Rogge.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-oly-preview-ad-idUKBRE86M0I720120723 |title=Unparalleled Sporting History |work=Reuters |access-date=30 November 2013 |last=Mehaffey |first=John |location=London |archive-date=25 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525164121/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-oly-preview-ad-idUKBRE86M0I720120723 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

A 2003 poll found that football is the most popular sport in the UK.<ref name="sports poll">{{Cite web |date=22 December 2003 |title=Rugby Union 'Britain's Second Most Popular Sport' |url=http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/928/Rugby-Union-Britains-Second-Most-Popular-Sport.aspx |access-date=28 April 2013 |publisher=Ipsos-Mori}}</ref> England is recognised by [[FIFA]] as the birthplace of club football, and the [[Football Association]] is the oldest of its kind, with the [[Laws of the Game (association football)|rules of football]] first drafted in 1863 by [[Ebenezer Cobb Morley]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rudd |first=Alyson |date=7 April 2008 |title=The father of football deserves much more |work=The Times |location=London |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article3694775.ece |url-access=subscription |access-date=29 January 2015}}; {{Cite web |date=24 October 2007 |title=Sheffield FC: 150 years of history |url=https://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=621801.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025033006/http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=621801.html |archive-date=25 October 2007 |access-date=29 January 2015 |publisher=[[FIFA]]}}</ref> Each of the [[Home Nations]] (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) has its own football association, national team and [[league system]], and each is individually a governing member of the [[International Football Association Board]] alongside FIFA. The English top division, the [[Premier League]], is the most watched football league in the world.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ebner |first=Sarah |date=2 July 2013 |title=History and time are key to power of football, says Premier League chief |work=The Times |location=London |url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/ceo-summit/article3804923.ece |url-access=subscription |access-date=30 November 2013}}</ref> The first international football match was contested by [[England national football team|England]] and [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]] on 30&nbsp;November 1872.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mitchell, Paul |author-link=Paul Mitchell (broadcaster) |date=November 2005 |title=The first international football match |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/sportscotland/asportingnation/article/0012/index.shtml |access-date=15 December 2013 |publisher=BBC Sport Scotland}}</ref> England, Scotland, [[Wales national football team|Wales]] and [[Northern Ireland national football team|Northern Ireland]] usually compete as separate countries in international competitions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harlow |first=Phil |date=5 August 2008 |title=Why is there no GB Olympics football team? |work=[[BBC Sport]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/football/7529807.stm |access-date=31 December 2010}}</ref>

In 2003, rugby union was ranked the second most popular sport in the UK.<ref name="sports poll" /> The sport was created in [[Rugby School]], Warwickshire, and the [[1871 England versus Scotland rugby union match|first rugby international]] took place on 27&nbsp;March 1871 between [[England national rugby union team|England]] and [[Scotland national rugby union team|Scotland]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-25946757 |title=Six ways the town of Rugby helped change the world |work=BBC News |access-date=29 January 2015 |date=1 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Godwin |first1=Terry |last2=Rhys |first2=Chris |year=1981 |title=The Guinness Book of Rugby Facts & Feats |page=10 |publisher=Guinness Superlatives |isbn=978-0-85112-214-4}}</ref> England, Scotland, [[Wales national rugby union team|Wales]], [[Ireland national rugby union team|Ireland]], [[France national rugby union team|France]] and [[Italy national rugby union team|Italy]] compete in the [[Six Nations Championship]], which is the premier international rugby union tournament in the northern hemisphere. [[Sports governing bodies]] in [[Rugby union in England|England]], [[Rugby union in Scotland|Scotland]], [[Rugby union in Wales|Wales]] and [[Rugby union in Ireland|Ireland]] organise and regulate the game separately.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Louw, Jaco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0-IiowvNomMC&pg=PA95 |title=The Girlfriends Guide to Rugby |last2=Nesbit, Derrick |publisher=South Publishers |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-620-39541-0 |location=Johannesburg}}</ref> Every four years, the Home Nations make a combined team known as the [[British and Irish Lions]] which tours Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The United Kingdom hosted the [[Summer Olympic Games]] in [[1908 Summer Olympics|1908]], [[1948 Summer Olympics|1948]] and [[2012 Summer Olympics|2012]], with London acting as the host city on all three occasions. Birmingham hosted the [[2022 Commonwealth Games]], the seventh time a [[Countries of the United Kingdom|constitute country in the United Kingdom]] hosted the [[Commonwealth Games]] (England, Scotland and Wales have each hosted the Commonwealth Games at least once).<ref>{{Cite news |title=The journey of India in Commonwealth Games in 2022 |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/allaboutsports/the-journey-of-india-in-commonwealth-games-in-2022-44477/ |access-date=29 June 2023}}</ref>