Best Sports manga

905 duels later, Haikyuu is still #1 in the Sports manga ranking, with Kuroko no Basket close behind.

Kuroko no Basket holds the #2 position with 1279 ELO points, but a sharp 33-point gap separates it from Hajime no Ippo at #3. This gap marks the ranking's steepest drop and underlines the clear divide between the top two volleyball and basketball titles and the rest of the field. Haikyuu leads with 1289 ELO points and wins 54% of its duels, while Kuroko no Basket registers a stronger 60% win rate despite trailing by 10 ELO points. Eyeshield 21 sits at #4 with 1234 points, and Captain Tsubasa rounds out the top 5 with 1222. At the bottom, Real lands at #11 with 1061 ELO points and a 34% win rate, the lowest in the ranking. Inazuma Eleven holds #10 with 1148 points, and Ashita no Joe occupies #9 with 1164 points and a 36% win rate. The lower positions reveal a community that favors modern action-driven narratives over classics and slower-paced stories.

This ranking draws from 905 duels fought by 34 players across 11 contenders. The data was updated on 12 October 2026. Vote now on VAINKEURZ to push your favorite sports manga higher or challenge the current podium.

Updated on October 12, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →