Is soccer harder than hockey?
Comparing Athletes' Toughness
According to an extensive study done by ESPN called Sports Skills Difficulty, ice hockey ranks second behind only boxing among the 60 sports measured. Football is ranked third, basketball fourth, baseball ninth and soccer tenth.
Degree of Difficulty: Sport Rankings | ||
---|---|---|
Boxing | 8.63 | 1 |
Ice Hockey | 7.25 | 2 |
Football | 5.38 | 3 |
Basketball | 7.38 | 4 |
Of course, there are outliers in both and you'll see lines and actual scores outside of these parameters, but hockey outscores soccer by about 2-1. For us, that says it's much more difficult to score a goal in soccer than it is in hockey.
There are challenging aspects of just about every sport imaginable. In soccer, people may initially think that it is easy to get into, and there is no denying that. However, one could make the case that it is the hardest sport in the world to master fully.
- Badminton. Hands down, one of the easiest and most rewarding sport to learn is Badminton. ...
- Swimming. Swimming is a sport that can be learned at any age. ...
- Cycling. ...
- Table Tennis. ...
- Volleyball.
- Track and Field: Distance.
- Rodeo: Bull/Bareback/Bronc Riding. ...
- Track and Field: Middle Distance. ...
- Weightlifting. ...
- Swimming (all strokes) Sprints. ...
- Water Skiing. ...
- Table Tennis. ...
- Track and Field: weights. ...
Basketball
In addition, basketball is arguably the hardest sport for a girl. On a rectangular court, two teams of at least five players each compete in the team game of basketball.
Ranking | Sport | Rating |
---|---|---|
1 | Tenpin Bowling | 87.4 |
2 | Swimming (200m Free) | 86.9 |
3 | Weightlifting | 86.2 |
4 | Water Polo | 85.8 |
- Tennis. http://www.feeltennis.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/tennis-beginners.jpg. ...
- Rowing. Rowing may look easy but having to do it over long distances without any rest requires years of practice. ...
- Soccer. ...
- Ice Hockey. ...
- Gymnastic. ...
- Rugby. ...
- Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) ...
- Figure Skating.
- Football. No fall sport is more physical in every minute of competition than football. ...
- Lacrosse. This sport combines the quickness and agility of basketball, the speed and precision of hockey, and the toughness of football into one heart-pounding game. ...
- Rodeo. ...
- Wrestling.
Why is soccer so difficult?
Although football is the more physically demanding of the two sports, there are four reasons soccer is harder than football: It's harder to score a goal in soccer than it is to get points in football. It requires more skill to play soccer than football. Soccer requires more stamina and endurance than football.
Ranking | Sport | Overall Fitness Rating (%) |
---|---|---|
1 | Water Polo | 80.3 |
2 | Rugby 7s | 79.6 |
3 | American Football | 79.3 |
4 | Ultimate | 79.3 |

Boxing is the most athletic sport around. A few years ago, a wide panel of sports experts, including sports scientists, researchers, athletes and journalists, objectively ranked the level of athleticism needed to compete in 60 sports.
OVERALL FINAL SCORES. Analysis: Boys and girls tennis emerged as the safest sports, with very few overall injuries, concussions, time loss due to injuries, surgeries, and catastrophic injuries. Not surprisingly, several contact sports (football, boys and girls lacrosse, wrestling) scored near the bottom.
- Volleyball. This scholarships are very popular among women. ...
- Track. Women's track can be broken down into numerous categories. ...
- Swimming.
Hockey hits are, on average, 17% harder than football hits even though hockey players are 20% smaller than football players? Interesting.
Soccer is a great off season sport for hockey players. Similar to hockey, it is an “invasion” sport and helps hockey players practice strategy and tactics, teamwork concepts and patterns of movement. Soccer also helps players practice foot skills and body fakes which are easily transferable to hockey season.
Hockey requires higher levels of complete athleticism, which is a combination of skating stamina and body strength, enabling players to hit their opponents on to the side boards. The essence of the game in both soccer and hockey is basically the same: to score, albeit using different objects.
A survey by Ampere Analysis from the fourth quarter of 2021 found that 49% of U.S. sports fans like soccer, compared to 37% who like hockey. Baseball came in at 57%. In 2020, 17.8 million Americans played soccer, compared to 2.3 million who played ice hockey, according to the Sport and Fitness Association.
Ice hockey is a tough sport; the game is played in three intense periods of 20 minutes. The players are trained to be aggressive, both physically and emotionally, and require great strength and stamina. Ice hockey is a technical game and requires the player to be attentive at all times.
Is hockey more violent than football?
...
Sports with the most injuries.
Sport | Hockey |
---|---|
Total injuries | 36,885 |
Ages 5-14 | 12,268 |
Ages 15-24 | 14,951 |
% change since 2017 | -17% |
In hockey, it is to a certain extent, but the players definitely have the ability to control the game on a different level. They can speed it up, slow it down, or shake things up with big hits or fights. In this sport, the athletes truly have control of the game, which makes it much more entertaining to watch.