Association football Premier League Association football is the most popular sport in almost all countries of Europe. European national teams have won 12 of 21 editions of the FIFA World Cup. Italy and Germany have won four titles each, followed by France with two titles and England and Spain, each won the World Cup once. UEFA, the governing body for European football, has hosted the UEFA European Championship since 1960, and the UEFA Women's Championship since 1984. The most popular and successful football leagues are the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, the German Bundesliga, the Italian Serie A, and the French Ligue 1.[2][3] Other main football leagues on the continent are the Portuguese Primeira Liga, the Russian Premier League, the Turkish Süper Lig and the Dutch Eredivisie. The top clubs in each league play the UEFA Champions League, while lower-ranked clubs compete in UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League. Basketball Italian Basketball Cup Basketball originated in America. It was invented in 1891 by Canadian James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts. In Europe, basketball is the second most popular team sport in many countries, including Greece, Serbia, Turkey and Spain.[citation needed] In Lithuania, it is the national sport. It is also very popular in Italy, France, Germany and all ex-Yugoslavia countries. The EuroBasket is the main European basketball competition for men's national teams, first held in 1935. The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia have won the most titles, with Spain claiming three championships since the late 2000s. The EuroLeague is the most important club basketball competition in Europe. it was founded as the FIBA European Champions Cup in 1958, but is organized by the Euroleague Basketball association since 2000. It is, globally, the second most popular basketball club competition, after the NBA. Cricket Lord's Cricket Ground is known as the "Home of Cricket". Cricket is a popular summer sport in the United Kingdom and has been exported to other parts of the former British Empire. Cricket has its origins in south east Britain. It is popular throughout England and Wales, and parts of the Netherlands. Cricket is also popular in other areas and also played in Northwest Europe. The England cricket team and Ireland cricket team are the only European teams with Test status. England's main rival is Australia, and they play each other in The Ashes series. England won the Cricket World Cup in 2019 and the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010. Ireland has recently received Test status in 2017. There is an ongoing surge on popularity of cricket due to vast investment in domestic T20 games and franchise based tournaments like Euro T20 Slam which will be played between city based teams of Ireland, Scotland Cyprus Cricket and Netherlands. Handball Handball is played professionally in several European countries. The European Handball Federation organizes continental competitions for men's and women's. European teams have dominated the IHF World Men's Handball Championship and have also won most editions of the IHF World Women's Handball Championship. Notable men's teams include Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Croatia, whereas Norway has dominated women's championships since the 2000s. The EHF Champions League is the most important handball club competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. Ice hockey Austrian Hockey League Ice hockey is the most popular or one of the most popular sports in many European nations, including Czechia, Switzerland, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Latvia, Belarus, and northern central Europe, where it rivals association football in popularity. It is also popular at a professional level in Germany, Norway, Austria, most of Western Europe and isolated parts of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. The Kontinental Hockey League originated from Russia but currently features teams from eight other countries. The Austrian Hockey League, Czech Extraliga, Deutsche Eishockey Liga, SM-Liiga, National League A and Swedish Hockey League are other professional leagues, whose top teams meet at the Champions Hockey League. The Ice Hockey European Championships for national teams was played from 1910 to 1932. National teams currently play the Ice Hockey World Championships, where Russia / Soviet Union have claimed a combined 27 titles, the Czech Republic / Czechoslovakia 12 and Sweden 11. Rugby league Rugby league is popular in northern England, where the sport formed in 1895. The game is also popular in southern France. The Great Britain national team first played in 1908, and entered the World Cup until 1992 and the Tri-Nations until 2006. England, Scotland and Wales have played independently since then. Great Britain has won the World Cup three times, whereas France has been runner-up twice. Clubs from England and France compete in the