The 10 Most Popular Sports in Lithuania
The Most Popular Sports in Lithuania - Fan Numbers, Player Stats and More!
Lithuania breathes sport. Basketball unites the country, football fills local grounds and endurance events pull thousands through city streets each year.
But what are the most popular sports in Lithuania? The Sporting Blog takes a closer look.
FK Riteriai earned promotion to Lithuania’s premier football league, A Lyga, for 2025. Image credits: FK Riteriai
In our article, we list the top 10 most popular sports in Lithuania, including the latest stats for player and viewer numbers. Let’s dive in!
1. Basketball
Basketball is Lithuania’s national obsession! In TV ratings for 2015, seven of Lithuania’s 10 most-watched broadcasts were national-team games. The EuroBasket final versus Spain even ranked number one with a 27.5% rating.
The sport’s popularity is also reflected in Lithuania’s ability to stage marquee events, such as hosting the EuroLeague Final Four in 2023 at Kaunas.
The Lithuanian Basketball Federation has publicly cited around 25,000 registered basketball players and roughly 100,000 regular players, with a strong fanbase at the youth and amateur levels.
2. Football
Football has the broadest club footprint in Lithuania. The Lithuanian Football Federation notes 27,600 registered players — 12,600 youth and 15,000 adults.
Read more on our football blog - listicles, player profiles and more!
A Lyga is the top division of professional football in Lithuania, with a total of 10 teams. These teams are made up of both foreign players and home-grown talent.
Attendance numbers show the popularity of football across the country. According to Transfermarkt, roughly 117,000 people attended A Lyga games in 2025.
3. Athletics and Mass-Participation Running
Mass-participation running remains a staple in Lithuania. The Vilnius Marathon describes itself as the country’s biggest running festival, with over 11,000 total participants in 2019. The marathon has experienced sustained growth since AIMS certification in 2007.
World Athletics lists official results for the 2024 edition, confirming championship-style recording of elite and mass-race performances across distances.
Organisers and federation updates also frequently report thousands of finishers across half-marathons, 10ks, 5ks and kids’ races. Running has a wide fanbase that stretches beyond one-off events into club training and city-led activity drives.
4. Ice Hockey
Ice hockey has a passionate community anchored by Elektrėnai and Vilnius. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) lists 1,576 registered players in Lithuania, including 1,305 juniors. Lithuania also has 10 indoor rinks and three outdoor rinks, which is a solid infrastructure for a country of under three million.
Event snapshots show huge engagement: at the 2024 IIHF Division I tournament in Vilnius, a Lithuanian game logged an attendance of 2,516 at Twinsbet Arena.
These figures underline an organised pathway from youth to senior levels, even if ice hockey remains a more niche sport compared to basketball or football.
5. Volleyball
Indoor and beach volleyball maintain steady club ecosystems and a busy domestic calendar in Lithuania. The Lithuanian Volleyball Federation’s stats hub for LTF Taurė 2024 publishes regular standings, match logs and leaderboards.
Popular teams in Lithuania include:
Gargždų "Amber Volley"
Alytaus TK "Ultra"
Marijampolės "Sūduva”
Šiaulių "Elga - Grafaitė - S-Sportas"
University-linked sides and regional teams also appear across competition pages. These teams showcase year-round fixtures that feed participation and visibility for the sport.
While Lithuania is not a continental powerhouse, the country’s structured leagues and public data infrastructure keep volleyball among the most popular indoor sports.
6. Handball
Handball features in Lithuanian schools, universities and regional clubs, and is consistently present on the European stage.
The European Handball Federation (EHF) discusses Lithuania’s team rosters, history, season results and qualifier information. It reflects continuous senior-level activity across the country.
Regular qualification windows and club seasons ensure handball stays in the public eye, especially during EHF EURO cycles and Baltic regional play, where cross-border fixtures help sustain interest and competitive standards.
Handball is also popular in other European countries like Iceland.
7. Cycling
Road, track and off-road disciplines sit under the Lithuanian Cycling Federation, a member of the Union Cycliste Internationale and Union Européene de Cyclisme. There are active competitive lists across categories in Lithuania, with a stable rider pipeline across the country.
Participation culture is visible in city events; Vilnius hosts large summertime rides and sports events around central courses, promoted annually by organisers in coordination with local authorities.
Together, federation and event data indicate that cycling’s footprint reaches from elite to family riders.
8. Swimming
Swimming’s popularity in Lithuania is clear in the number of municipal pools, school programmes and club meets — and it aligns with national investment in physical activity.
The World Health Organisation suggests supportive policy and facility planning for aquatic programming and community sport. These frameworks help explain sustained demand for lanes and lessons across cities.
Rūta Meilutytė is one of Lithuania’s greatest athletes. She won an Olympic gold medal at London 2012 at just 15 years old. She is also the current world record holder for the short course 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke and long course 50m breaststroke.
Looking for more? Read our article for the top 11 female Olympians of all time.
9. Tennis
Tennis enjoys a steady recreational base, with periodic spikes in attention around national-team ties and regional Association of Tennis Professionals or Women’s Tennis Association events.
While participation is decentralised, Lithuania’s broader sport governance is tracked by the Council of Europe (COE), which highlights major tennis events hosted nationally.
Check out our tennis blog for more!
Lithuania is committed to improving safety and service at national sports venues — conditions that will benefit club-based sports like tennis.
University programmes also nurture racket-sport engagement. Lithuania’s Sports University lists tennis among its main offerings alongside basketball, football, handball and others.
10. General Fitness and Club Sport
Beyond single-sport rankings, Lithuania’s sport environment is shaped by club memberships, school sport and municipal initiatives. The COE notes a few major events in Lithuania since 2000, including:
EuroBasket 2011
FIFA Futsal World Cup 2021
EuroLeague Final Four 2023
European Figure Skating Championships 2024
The 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup was the first FIFA tournament to ever be hosted by Lithuania. This shows the importance of Lithuanian club sport in recent years. Sport participation remains a policy priority across regions, backgrounds and age groups.
The Most Popular Sports in Lithuania - Key Takeaways
Popularity looks different depending on whether you measure screens, seats or sign-ups. On TV and in the national psyche, basketball stands alone, but in club participation, football spreads the widest net.
One thing is clear: sport is central to Lithuania’s national identity. Lithuanians are committed to their health and fitness, so participation in all of these sports is only going to grow!
