1930 in sports
| Years in sports: | 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 |
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s |
| Years: | 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 |
Baseball (Negro League)
- The St. Louis Stars win the Negro National League pennant.
Basketball
- The South American Basketball Championship 1930, won by Uruguay, is the first major international basketball championship. Four South American teams play in Montevideo.
Cricket
- 10 January-13 January, Christchurch - New Zealand plays its first Test match, against England. England won by 8 wickets. England won the 4-Test series 1-0.
Football (American)
- Green Bay Packers win the National Football League title with a record of 10-3-1.
Football (Australian rules football)
- Victorian Football League
- Collingwood wins the 34th VFL Premiership (Collingwood 14.16 (100) d Geelong 9.16 (70))
- Brownlow Medal awarded to Stan Judkins (Richmond), Allan Hopkins (Footscray) and Harry Collier (Collingwood)
Football (soccer)
- FIFA World Cup - the first World Cup is held in Uruguay. Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 in the final.
England
- First Division - Sheffield Wednesday win the 1929-30 title.
- FA Cup - Arsenal beat Huddersfield Town 2-0.
Golf
- May 31 - British Amateur - Bobby Jones
- June 18-20 - British Open - Bobby Jones
- July 10-12 - U.S. Open - Bobby Jones
- September 13 - PGA Championship - Tommy Armour
- September 27 - U.S. Amateur - Bobby Jones: Jones became the only golfer to win the Grand Slam.
Hockey (Ice)
- Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens defeat Boston Bruins 2-0
Horse Racing
- May 17 - Gallant Fox wins the Kentucky Derby
Snooker
- World Snooker Championship: Joe Davis beats Tom Dennis 25-12 YO
Yacht racing
- The New York Yacht Club retains the America's Cup as Enterprise defeats British challenger Shamrock V, of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club, 4 races to 0
Multi-sport events
- First British Empire Games, precursor of the Commonwealth Games, held in Hamilton, Ontario
- 9th Far Eastern Championship Games held in Tokyo, Empire of Japan
Births
- January 8 — Éva Novák-Gerard, Hungarian swimmer (d. 2005)
- January 8 — Doreen Wilber, American archer
- January 24 — Felix Capella, Canadian race walker
- January 26 — Buddy Melges, American yachtsman
- February 13 — Ronald Stretton, British track cyclist
- February 25 — Edi Ziegler, German road cyclist
- February 26 — Lionel Cox, Australian track cyclist
- March 1 — Gastone Nencini, Italian cyclist (d. 1980)
- March 11 — Troy Ruttman, American race car driver, Indianapolis 500 champion (1952) (d. 1997)
- March 24 — Ed Sanders, American boxer (d. 1954)
- March 29 — John Marshall, Australian freestyle swimmer (d. 1957)
- April 12 — John Landy, Australian track athlete
- May 12 — Patricia McCormick, American diver
- May 20 — Miguel Seijas, Uruguayan rower
- June 4 — Carlos Lucas, Chilean boxer
- June 21 — Boris Grishayev, Soviet marathon runner
- July 4 — Yuri Tyukalov, Soviet Olympic rower
- August 3 — Leen Jansen, Dutch boxer
- August 14 — Earl Weaver, American baseball manager
- August 27 — Gholamreza Takhti, Iranian wrestler (d. 1968)
- September 1 — Piet van Klaveren, Dutch boxer
- September 5 — Mircea Dobrescu, Romanian boxer
- September 21 — Sergey Popov, Soviet marathon runner
- November 9 — José Águas, Angola-born Portuguese football (soccer) player (d. 2003)
- November 19 — Bob Mathias, American decathlete (d. 2006)
- November 24 — Sándor Rozsnyói, Hungarian athlete
- December 1 — Kenneth Box, British track and field sprinter
- December 3 — Jan Plantaz, Dutch road bicycle and track cyclist (d. 1974)
- December 23 — Jean Stewart, New Zealand swimmer
Deaths
- July 30 — Joan Gamper, Swiss-born founder of FC Barcelona (b. 1877)
- November 2 — Viggo Jensen, Danish weightlifter, shooter, gymnast, and athlete (b. 1874)
- December 13 — Arthur Wharton, first black professional football player (b. 1865)