What Are the Most Practiced Sports in Thailand? Muay Thai Surprises by Not Making the Top 10

When we think of sports in Thailand, it’s almost automatic to think of Muay Thai. The art of eight weapons is one of the country's greatest sports and cultural symbols, driving gyms, stadiums, events, and tourism, and is promoted by the government as an important part of Thailand's cultural heritage and soft power.

However, there is a huge difference between asking “which sport best represents Thailand?” and “which sport do Thais practice the most?”.

The numbers show that in everyday life, Thais engage in much more running, football, badminton, volleyball, and futsal than Muay Thai.

Data from the Sport Economy Review, produced by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, helps reveal the actual sports behavior of the population.

The 10 Most Practiced Sports and Activities

In the latest complete series that allows for individual comparison of sports, running stands alone at the top, followed by football and badminton.

Respondents could indicate more than one activity, so the percentages should not be summed as if each person practiced only one sport.

The numbers reveal a very different sporting Thailand from the one typically presented to tourists.

Football and badminton have a much larger base of practitioners than Muay Thai. Team sports like volleyball, futsal, and basketball also rank higher. Even the traditional sepak takraw, which is extremely present in Thai schools, communities, and public spaces, shows higher participation.

What Changed in 2026?

The most recent report from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports already presents a comparison between 2025 and 2026, although the publication only provides the top five sports in this section.

*Data from 2026 presented in the most recent report. The methodology/categorization in this edition separates sports practice from forms of physical exercise, so the percentages should not be directly compared with the previous table.

In the exercise category, for example, running appears with 66.74% and walking/fast walking with 51.92%.

Despite the methodological change, the overall message remains clear: football, badminton, volleyball, futsal, and running continue to be extremely present in the Thai sporting routine.

And what about Muay Thai?

Here lies perhaps the most surprising data.

Despite being one of Thailand's greatest national symbols, Muay Thai is not among the ten most practiced sports by the population in the complete series.

In 2024, 1.28% of respondents who practiced sports indicated Muay Thai. In 2025, this number increased to 1.56%.

This places Muay Thai far below sports like football, badminton, futsal, volleyball, basketball, and sepak takraw in terms of popular participation.

To put the difference in perspective, in the 2025 series:

Badminton (17.10%) had participation about 11 times greater than Muay Thai (1.56%).

Football (23.40%) appeared approximately 15 times higher.

Even sepak takraw (3.47%) had more than double the participation recorded for Muay Thai.

This does not diminish the importance of Muay Thai. On the contrary, it highlights a very particular characteristic of this sport.

How Can the National Sport Not Be Among the Most Practiced?

Several factors help explain this apparent contradiction.

1. Muay Thai has a higher barrier to entry

Running requires little more than a pair of shoes. Football can be played with a ball and an open space. Badminton is available in numerous sports centers, schools, and courts.

Muay Thai typically requires a gym, a coach, equipment, and technical learning. As training progresses, there is also physical contact and a greater demand for conditioning.

This naturally reduces the pool of regular practitioners.

2. Watching Muay Thai is very different from practicing it

A sport can be part of the identity of millions of people without them necessarily practicing it.

It’s the same difference between following professional football and playing football regularly.

In the case of Muay Thai, its cultural, historical, and entertainment significance is much greater than the percentage of people who actually train in the sport.

3. There is a strong professional component

Historically, Muay Thai has a structure linked to camps, professional fighters, coaches, and stadiums.

This is different from badminton, running, or recreational football, which can be practiced throughout life simply for leisure or physical activity.

4. Badminton, football, and running are extremely accessible

These sports easily fit into daily routines.

A person can play badminton with friends after work, run in a park, or join a football match without committing to learning a martial art.

The lower the barrier to start and continue, the larger the potential base of practitioners tends to be.

5. The international strength of Muay Thai distorts our perception

To those observing Thailand from the outside, Muay Thai seems omnipresent.

Gyms welcome foreigners, tourists travel specifically to train in the country, and major cities, especially Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, and Chiang Mai, have an industry built around training.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports itself treats Muay Thai as a cultural heritage and a tool for soft power, tourism, and economic activity generation. The government has been promoting projects to internationalize the sport and expand its presence in international competitions.

This means that the number of Muay Thai gyms should not be interpreted simply as a reflection of the number of Thais who train.

The Paradox of Muay Thai

This is where the data becomes even more interesting.

Muay Thai may not be among the ten most practiced sports by Thais, yet it possesses an extraordinarily large commercial infrastructure.

In Bangkok, there are hundreds of gyms and camps related to the sport.

This suggests that the Muay Thai ecosystem caters to different audiences simultaneously: professional fighters, recreational Thai practitioners, children and youth in training, expatriates, and a significant population of tourists who travel to Thailand specifically to train.

The Thai government explicitly recognizes this economic dimension. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has been promoting Muay Thai not only as a sport but also as cultural heritage, a tourist product, and a tool for international soft power.

So What Is the True Sport of the Thais?

The answer depends on the question.

If we are talking about national identity and international projection, few sports can compete with Muay Thai.

If we are talking about the number of people practicing, the data tells a different story.

Running, football, and badminton have much larger bases. Volleyball, futsal, and basketball are also part of the sporting routine of millions of Thais. And sepak takraw remains a traditional sport with significant participation.

Muay Thai occupies a different position.

Perhaps it is less the sport that every Thai practices and more the sport that represents Thailand to the world.

This difference helps explain a curious phenomenon: while only a small portion of the population claims to practice Muay Thai, Thailand, and particularly Bangkok, maintains one of the largest and most specialized fight training infrastructures in the world.

This combination of culture, professional sport, tourism, and soft power is precisely what makes Muay Thai a case so different from other sports practiced in the country.

Source: Sport Economy Review - Min. Tourism and Sports of Thailand