This is a list of professional sports leagues. A sports league is a professional body that governs the competition of its teams. 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. 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.

Badminton

Bandy

🇫🇮

Baseball/softball

Northern Hemisphere Summer

Americas

🇺🇸, 🇨🇦, 🇨🇺, 🇻🇪, and 🇦🇷 🇲🇽 🇦🇷

Asia-Pacific

🇯🇵 🇰🇷

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🇹🇼 Taiwan 🇵🇭

Europe

---

🇮🇹

---

🇨🇿 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 🇪🇸 🇸🇪 🇵🇱

---

🇹🇷

Northern Hemisphere Winter

Americas

🇦🇷 🇨🇴 🇨🇼 🇩🇴 🇲🇽

---

🇵🇦

---

🇺🇸 🇻🇪

Asia-Pacific

🇦🇺, 🇳🇿 and 🇰🇷 🇯🇵, 🇰🇷 and 🇹🇼

Softball

🇬🇧 🇯🇵

Basketball

Bowling

Bull riding

Chess

Combat sports: Boxing

Major promotions Major sanctioning bodies 🇮🇳

Combat sports: Fencing

Combat sports: Kickboxing

Combat sports: Mixed martial arts

Combat sports: Professional wrestling

Cricket

Africa

🇿🇦

North America

🇨🇦 Canada 🇺🇸 United States West Indies

Asia

🇦🇫 🇵🇰 🇳🇵 Nepal 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates

Europe

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Oceania

Curling

Cycling

Competitive eating

Football: Association football

Beach soccer

🇺🇦

Futsal

🇦🇷 🇮🇳 India 🇮🇩 🇮🇱 🇰🇬 🇰🇷 🇹🇭 🇹🇷 🇺🇿 🇺🇸 🇻🇳 🇺🇦

Indoor soccer

Football: Australian rules football

Asia Europe Oceania 🇦🇺 International

Football: Gridiron football

Includes American and Canadian Football and their variants.

Americas

Europe

Asia

🇮🇳 India

Oceania

Football: Rugby football

Rugby league

Americas Europe Oceania

Rugby union

Intercontinental Africa Americas Asia-Pacific Europe Pro clubs in an amateur league

Golf

Men's

Top-level tours

Senior tours

Developmental tours

Women's

Top-level tours

Senior tours

Developmental tours

Handball

Hockey: Field hockey

Asia Europe Australia

Hockey: Ice hockey

North America

and only only

Asia

🇯🇵, 🇰🇷, and 🇷🇺 🇰🇿 🇹🇼 🇨🇳 🇮🇱

Europe

🇦🇹, 🇭🇷, 🇸🇰, 🇭🇺, 🇨🇿, and 🇦🇹, 🇮🇹, and 🇸🇮 🇪🇪 🇱🇹 🇧🇪, 🇧🇾 🇧🇬 🇨🇿 🇭🇷 🇷🇸 🇩🇰 🇫🇮 🇦🇹, 🇭🇺 and 🇱🇹 🇪🇪 and 🇳🇴 🇮🇹 , 🇧🇾, 🇨🇳, 🇫🇮, 🇰🇿,, and 🇸🇰 only 🇸🇰, 🇭🇺 🇨🇭 🇹🇷 🇺🇦 🇬🇧 (,, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿, and )

Oceania

Hockey: Indoor

Hockey: on skates

Inline hockey

Roller hockey (quad)/Rink hockey

🇪🇸 Spain

Kabaddi

International Tournaments Kabaddi Leagues

Kho kho

Korfball

Lacrosse

Box / Indoor lacrosse

and

Field lacrosse

Netball

Pesäpallo

🇫🇮:

Shooting

🇩🇪

Racing: Automobile

Racing: Motorcycle

Speedway

Racquetball

Roll Ball

🇮🇳 🇺🇸 🇪🇺

Snooker

Table tennis

Tennis

Asia 🇮🇳

Track and field

Ultimate

Video gaming/Electronic sports

Asia 🇨🇳 🇮🇳 India 🇰🇷 🇹🇼/🇭🇰/🇲🇴 🇯🇵 Southeast Asia Multiple regions

Volleyball

Water polo