Leeds has a strong sporting heritage, with the Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Leeds Rhinos (the rugby league team) playing at Headingley Stadium, Leeds Tykes (the rugby union team) playing at The Sycamores, Bramhope and Leeds United F.C. playing at Elland Road. The Headquarters of the Rugby Football League is also based in Leeds. Leeds City Council also offer a wide variety of sport, leisure and fitness sessions both in their leisure centres and the community.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club have played most of their games at Headingley Stadium, Leeds since 1888. Yorkshire are the most successful side in County Championship history, having won the title a record 31 times. Yorkshire has a storied history, and has produced many successful cricketers who have gone on to become England internationals, including Geoff Boycott, Michael Vaughan, Fred Trueman, Darren Gough and Matthew Hoggard. Seven members of the current Yorkshire side are present or former England internationals, Tim Bresnan, Ryan Sidebottom, Joe Root, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett. In addition, some of the most famous names in world cricket have played for the county, including Sachin Tendulkar, current Australia Coach Darren Lehmann and current Yorkshire team coach and former Australian international Jason Gillespie.

In addition, Test match cricket has been played at Headingley since 1899. The stadium has also been used in several ICC Competitions including the Cricket World Cup.

In the early 20th Century Leeds was known as a rugby town. The first football team to bear the name of the city were called Leeds City F.C. However, this team was disqualified from the league for financial breaches. In 1919 [1] Leeds United F.C. were formed. Unlike many northern cities such as Manchester and Sheffield, Leeds has just one football league team, being the city with the largest population to have just one team in the top four divisions of English football (the Premier League and the three leagues comprising The Football League).

Leeds United played the 2007–08 season in Football League One, the third level of the English league system; this was the first time since the club's election to The Football League in 1920 that they have played outside the top two divisions. They were relegated from the second-level Football League Championship as a direct result of a 10-point deduction for going into administration. They entered the Championship in 2004, when a financial crisis and loss of key players cost them their Premiership status and almost put them out of business. They were promoted back to the Premier League in 2020 following a sixteen-year absence, after winning the Championship the previous season. Leeds United's greatest successes came under the leadership of manager Don Revie in the late 1960s, and 1970s, when they were league champions twice as well as winning the League Cup, FA Cup and European Fairs Cup. They also won the league title in 1992, when Howard Wilkinson was manager, the team's last major top flight trophy. There is also an affiliated Ladies team Leeds United L.F.C. whose closest chance at silverware was in the 2006 FA Women's Cup, losing to Arsenal L.F.C.

Farsley Celtic AFC are a non-league football team from the Farsley district of West Leeds, and play their home games at Throstle Nest. Another non-league team in Leeds is Garforth Town, who play in East Leeds, plus Guiseley A.F.C. who play in the National League North, the team are most known for their back to back appearances in the second round of the FA Cup.

Leeds United Women F.C. are an English women's football club in the FA Women's National Premier League. They play at Farsley Celtic's Throstle Nest ground, having previously played at Tadcaster Albion's ground, The Park.

Leeds City Vixens L.F.C. play in the Northern Combination Women's Football League and last season the finished 2nd in the league. They moved ground from Adel Memorial to The Bracken Edge the same ground as Yorkshire Amateur A.F.C.