The grassroots sport reveals the magnitudes of the blow received by the pandemic. In 2020, the number of licenses in Spanish sports federations fell by 2.6% in relation to the previous year, up to a total of 3.84 million chips. The sector leaves behind the absolute record of federated athletes registered in 2019 and loses, in a single year, 103,594 federated athletes.
The data released today by the Higher Sports Council (CSD) reveals that Soccer, the sport that has by far the most federated members, is also the one with the lowest losses in the year of Covid-19, with 21,037 licenses less than in the previous year. In relative terms, the drop is, however, lower than the average, with a decrease of 1.9%.
Judo, the sixth sport with the most federated in Spain, lost for its part to 11,053 licenses, up to 97,092 athletes), with a percentage drop of 10.2%, which in this case far exceeds the average for all sports. The third biggest drop, with 10,032 chips less, is that of handball, eighth sport by number of federated, with a decrease of 10%, to 90,336 licensed athletes.
Motorsports, with 9,788 fewer federated; orientation, with 9,545 fewer licenses; basketball, with a drop of 9,283 chips; karate, with 9,205 less chips, and taekwondo, with a decrease of 9,024 federative licenses, are the following sports that have lost the most federated practitioners. They are followed by sports such as boxing, petanque or athletics.
Soccer lost, in a single year, more than 21,000 licenses, but its fall was lower than the average for all sports
A key to the statistics released by the CSD is the disparity in the evolution of the different sports, with relative falls exceeding 60% and rises of up to 46.6%. In this sense, the sports that have lost the most critical mass of federated practitioners are boxing, orienteering, motor racing and petanque, followed by other sports that do not reach 4,000 federated throughout Spain such as billiards, baseball and softball, sports for the deaf or polo.
In the case of boxing, the drop in relative terms was the largest by far, 61%, to 4,736 athletes (after losing 7,419 federative files in a single year). The federated athletes in orientation fell 48.7%, to 10,060 licenses; those of motorsport, 37.4%, up to 16,392 chips, and those of petanque, 37%, up to 11,263 federated.
Winners of the pandemic
Covid-19 also had a positive effect on several sports, which in many cases reached new absolute records for federated athletes. The highest absolute increase was for equestrian, with 9,571 federated more than in 2019 and an increase in relative terms of 18.3% in 2020, to 61,976 athletes, a new absolute record for this discipline.
Horse riding, surfing and volleyball are the winners of the pandemic, with new federated records
Sports such as surfing and volleyball also set new records., with increases of 8,649 federated and 5,375 federated, respectively, up to 56,830 and 91,222 federative licenses. Gymnastics, canoeing and underwater activities are the other sports that grew the most in number of chips, with increases of 3,927 licenses, 3,283 licenses, 3,013 licenses, respectively.
Nevertheless, in relative terms, the greatest increase corresponded to the number of federated in sports for people with intellectual disabilities: with an increase of 46.6%, the number of licenses reached 9,347, compared to 6,377 federative files the previous year.
