Love sport? Get involved in the UK

If you love sport, the UK offers an amazing array of ways to explore your passion. We’re fanatical about pretty much every kind of sport here, and many of our athletes and clubs lead the world. Whether it’s global team sports like football, or individual sports like athletics, you’ll find ways to compete in and celebrate the sports you care most about alongside your studies.

If you want to participate in sport, our university league is always looking for new talent. Across UK universities and colleges 5,800 teams compete annually in 50 different sports. From football and cricket to archery and ultimate, they often compete at some of the most iconic venues in the UK. 

Throughout the year you’ll have no shortage of local and national sporting events to attend. Want to see your favourite Premier League team in action? Or witness the world’s best cricket teams do battle at Lord’s? It’s all on your doorstep in the UK. 

Many international students choose the UK to launch their career in sport too. With a unique heritage of sport and an equally strong scientific background, it’s no surprise that we have some of the best sports programmes in the world. 

Get your career off to a flying start

The UK is home to the the highest ranked university for sport in the world –Loughborough University – and the fifth, the University of Birmingham. But right across the UK you’ll find outstanding knowledge, industry access and state of the art technology.

Choosing one of our world-class undergraduate sport science degrees will give you the skills you need to compete in your career, wherever you want to go. You’ll get access to cutting-edge research laboratories and specialist teaching – the perfect preparation for success in the lucrative world of sport.

What will you be learning?

Science

As you might imagine, a sports science degree includes lots of key science skills. From molecular biology and biochemistry to biomechanics and motor control, you’ll discover the very latest insights into how the human body works during exercise.

Psychology

Just as important as physiology is the psychological elements of sport – what motivates people and how their behaviour or performance can be influenced, from fine tuning professional athletes to boosting fitness levels in the general public.

Sport

Of course, you will also learn a great deal about the way sport works at a professional level, with input from people at all levels in the industry. This will all happen under the guidance of your teaching staff, many of whom will have worked at a high level in professional sport themselves.

The right blend for you

To make your decision-making easier, many universities offer combined degrees that blend disciplines, so you can balance sports science with related learning such as biology or dance, or unrelated subjects such as English or mathematics.

And once you graduate, you can easily expand your thinking even further with the UK’s wide range of postgraduate programmes, all of which offer ties to local professional clubs and teams. 

Sport in the UK

The UK has an extraordinary relationship with sport, one that dates back hundreds of years. One of the oldest tennis courts in the world was situated inside King Henry VIII’s court, and since the 19th Century ten official sports have been invented here, including badminton, table tennis, rugby, boxing and the world’s favourite sport – football. 

Today, sport is one of the biggest ways that people come together socially in the UK, whether they are playing or watching. Hundreds of thousands of people attend live sporting events throughout the week, with thousands more watching live sport televised from around the world. 

So if you want to watch, play or study sport, the sheer number of opportunities available in the UK is very hard to beat.

Search for undergraduate sports courses on UCAS

Search for postgraduate sports courses on Prospects