We rounded up the most sports-obsessed cities in the UK and their most-stylish athletes.
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THESE ARE THE SPORTIEST CITIES IN THE UK AND THEIR STYLISH ATHLETES

Words: L. Thorpe

If you think your city is the most sports-obsessed, we can (hopefully) help you prove it. Based on the number of sports venues, sporting events, gyms, parks, and pro teams in the area, along with searches for fitness-related terms, we worked out which cities in the UK are the sportiest, then crunched the search stats to find the most stylish sports stars.

The sportiest city in the UK

Based on data and searches, Leeds is the sportiest city in the UK with 92 sports venues and outdoor locations, more than 250 annual sporting events, a professional sports team and hundreds of gyms. The northern city has more than 6,850 monthly searches for gyms and fitness classes in a city with a population of under 500,000.

Leeds has sports venues like the combined Headingley Stadium and Yorkshire Cricket Ground plus events like The Ashes and the Rugby League World Cup. There’s also Premier League football team Leeds United and Rugby League Club Leeds Rhinos.

There are plenty of sports pros from the city too, including boxers Nicola Adams and Josh Warrington, duathlete and triathlete Jonny Brownlee, gymnast Nile Wilson and footballers Micah Richards and Aaron Lennon.

With all of these factors and data combined, Leeds has been crowned as the sportiest city in the UK.

Top 10 sportiest cities in the UK

Wondering where else made the grade? Here are the top 10 sportiest cities in the UK:

1. Leeds
2. Birmingham
3. Cardiff
4. Edinburgh
5. Glasgow
6. Bristol
7. Leicester
8. Sheffield
9. Liverpool
10. London

Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham lead the way when it comes to the number of gyms per person in their area, while London and Bristol had the highest number of monthly searches for gyms per 100,000 people. Birmingham and Leicester also come out on top with their number of parks and outdoor spaces to exercise per person.

London, Leicester and Birmingham have the most professional sports teams, which brings us to the best-dressed professional sports players.

Best-dressed professional sports players

When it comes to fashion and style-related searches for your favourite professional sports players, football is the sport most people look to for style inspiration and ideas. Half of the top 10 athletes on the best-dressed play the beautiful game. The rest of the list includes basketball players, F1 drivers and the occasional NFL player.

The best-dressed sports pro is undoubtedly Neymar. Fashion and style-related searches for the Brazilian footballer were more than 17 times higher than the next on the list, Lewis Hamilton. Neymar’s style is unique, and he makes bold choices. He isn’t afraid to experiment with different styles, jewellery and accessories.

Next on the list is Lewis Hamilton. Often sat front row at Fashion Week, leading campaigns for designer brands, and walking the Met Gala red carpet, Lewis isn’t afraid to take risks and he regularly celebrates emerging Black designers.

Third on the list of the most-searched stylish sportsman is Cristiano Ronaldo. While his style off the pitch is flashy and full of designer brands, he often experiments with bold-coloured suits, tailored jackets and luxury trainers.

Here are the top 10 most-searched sports players:

1. Neymar – Footballer (164,000)
2. Lewis Hamilton – F1 Driver (9,500)
3. Cristiano Ronaldo – Footballer (3,400)
4. Travis Kelce – NFL (3,120)
5. LeBron James – Basketballer (2,600)
6. Devin Booker – Basketballer (2,480)
7. Mason Mount – Footballer (1,560)
8. Jack Grealish – Footballer (1,470)
9. Charles Leclerc – F1 Driver (1,200)
10. Son Heung-Min – Footballer (1,100)

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