This is a list of professional sports leagues.
A sports league is a professional body that governs the competition of its teams.[clarification needed] They make the rules for competition and behavior and disciplines its members as necessary. This is done through a structure that varies by league. Some are made up of a board of governors that have a commissioner or president, while others are single entity organizations where the league owns the franchises and therefore does not have a board of governors.[clarification needed]
This list attempts to show those sports leagues for which all players and teams are paid to play. In other words, these players can be considered to play their chosen sport as their profession. Some leagues do not pay well enough to allow players to use them as their primary or only source of income, but because the players are paid, it is still considered professional, or semi-professional. As such, some leagues listed here may not be fully professional.
England
India
Indonesia
Russia
Sweden
See also: List of organized baseball leagues, Professional baseball, and Baseball awards |
United States,
Canada,
Cuba,
Venezuela, and
Argentina
Ireland
Australia,
New Zealand and
South Korea
Japan,
South Korea and
Taiwan
Main article: List of basketball leagues |
Major promotions
Major sanctioning bodies
Philippines
India
England
Scotland
Ireland
Australia
New Zealand
United States
India
Italy
Main articles: Geography of association football, Geography of women's association football, and Professionalism in association football |
Austria
Belarus
Brazil
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Czech Republic
China
Germany
France
Italy
Latvia
Malaysia
Myanmar
Serbia
Poland
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Russia
United States
Includes American and Canadian Football and their variants.
United States
Brazil
Canada
Mexico
Europe
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
UK
China
Japan
Australia
See also: List of rugby league competitions |
See also: British rugby league system and French rugby league system |
See also: List of rugby union competitions |
Intercontinental
Africa
Americas
Asia-Pacific
Europe
Pro clubs in an amateur league
Main article: Professional golf tours |
See also: List of ice hockey leagues |
Canada and
United States
Canada only
United States only
Mexico
Japan,
South Korea, and
Russia
Austria,
Croatia,
Slovakia,
Hungary,
Czech Republic, and
Italy
France
Germany
Netherlands and
Belgium
Poland
Romania
Russia,
Belarus,
China,
Finland,
Kazakhstan,
Latvia, and
Slovakia
Russia only
Slovenia
Sweden
United Kingdom
(
England,
Scotland,
Wales, and
Northern Ireland)
Australia
New Zealand
International Tournaments
Kabaddi Leagues
United States and
Canada
United States
United States
United States
Turkey
Philippines
Southeast Asia
Main article: Geography of water polo |