Sport in Victoria in 2001. The city has hosted FIFA World Cup qualifiers in both 1997 2001 and 2009 Sport in Victoria The state of Victoria, Australia, has a strong sporting culture and includes many popular sports. The most popular sports played in the state are basketball, Australian rules football, cricket, shooting, soccer, and netball. Horse Racing joins that list as the most popular spectator sports. In terms of both attendance and media coverage, Australian rules football is the most popular sport in the state. The participation rate of 4% is the third highest in the country with 223,999 players counted in 2004.
Sport in the United Kingdom World Cup in conjunction with the other Home Nations. In 2015, England hosted the Rugby World Cup; however, some games were played in Wales. In the 2011 Rugby World Cup Wales was the only home nation to progress beyond the Quarter Finals. Rugby union has a number of heartlands, notably South Wales, the Scottish Borders, the English West Country, London and the Midlands. Rugby union is generally regarded as the national sport of Wales. England organises its own national league in Premiership Rugby, which is launching the Premiership Rugby Cup in 2018–19 to replace the former Anglo-Welsh Cup, which had