Sports in Zamastan
Sports in Zamastan consist of a wide variety of games. The most common sports are ice hockey, gridiron football, soccer, basketball, curling and baseball, with ice hockey and gridiron football being the official winter and summer sports, respectively.
Ice hockey, referred to as simply "hockey", is Zamastan's most prevalent winter sport, its most popular spectator sport, and its most successful sport in international competition. Zamastanian football is Zamastan's second most popular spectator sport, being the most popular in the prairie provinces. The Zamastan Football League's annual championship, the Teal Cup, is one of the country's largest annual sports events. While other sports have a larger spectator base, Association football, known in Zamastan as soccer in both English and French, has the most registered players of any team sport in Zamastan. Professional teams exist in many cities in Zamastan. Statistics Zamastan reports that the top ten sports that Zamastanians participate in are golf, ice hockey, swimming, soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, skiing (downhill and alpine), cycling and tennis.
Zamastan also participates in international sporting events, such as the 2019 Trive-IDU Baseball Classic.
Football
Football, known as Zamastanian football outside Zamastan, has the most participants of any sport at both high school and college levels, the vast majority of its participants being male.
The ZFL (Zamastan Football League) is the preeminent professional football league in Zamastan. The ZFL has 16 franchises divided into two conferences. After a 16-game regular season, each conference sends six teams to the ZFL Playoffs, which eventually culminate in the league's championship game, the Teal Cup.
Nationwide, the ZFL obtains the highest television ratings among major sports. Watching ZFL games on television on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons has become a common routine for many Zamastanians during the football season.
Soccer
Association football, known in Zamastan as soccer in both English and French, has the most registered players of any team sport in Zamastan.
Hockey
Ice hockey, referred to as simply "hockey", is Zamastan's most prevalent winter sport, its most popular spectator sport, and its most successful sport in international competition. Zamastanian football is Zamastan's second most popular spectator sport, being the most popular in the prairie provinces.
Baseball
Baseball and a variant, softball, are popular participatory sports in Zamastan. The highest level of baseball in Zamastan is the Zamastan Baseball League (ZBL). The Baseball Zamastan Cup of ZBL is the culmination of the sport's postseason each October. It is played between the winner of each of the two leagues, the Zian League and the Pahl League, and the winner is determined through a best-of-seven playoff.