The total number of federated athletes in Spain exceeded four million for the first time in 2022. According to figures from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports, federated athletes were 4.1 million last year, representing both a record number and a rise of 4.5 percent compared to the pre-pandemic figures in 2019.
Football continues to lead by sport, with more than 1.1 million federated athletes and an increase of 25.4 percent from 2021. Basketball took second with more than 377,000 athletes, followed by hunting with over 333,000 federated members. The boom of outdoor sports saw “Mountaineering and climbing” climb to the fifth spot, with 289,605 federated athletes, while golf jumped by 20 percent compared to pre-pandemic data, taking the fourth spot.
By gender, the overall number of federated athletes in Spain shows great disparity. More than three-quarters (75.7 percent) of the athletes that are members of Spanish sports federations are men, while women are just 24.3 percent. However, both genders showed an increase compared with 2021, by 13.6 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively.
Finally, employees in the sports sector increased by 6.2 percent compared to 2021. The 235,400 workers in sport-related jobs in 2022 represented 1.2 percent of the total number of jobs in the country in that period. The gender balance is better in this area, as 57.7 percent of workers in sports are men and 42.3 percent are women.
