Italian basketball has added barely 5,000 registered athletes over an eight-year span, lagging far behind a broader national sports boom led by tennis, padel, and volleyball, according to data from the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI).
The Italian Basketball Federation (FIP) recorded 320,769 registered athletes in 2024, an increase of 4,890 members—or 1.5 percent—from the 315,879 athletes logged in 2016. That sluggish growth stands in sharp contrast to the wider Italian sports landscape, where total registered athletes across all national federations surged by more than 32 percent over the same period, climbing from roughly 4.58 million to over 6.06 million.
Stagnant Membership Numbers and Shrinking Club Totals Across Italy
The stagnation in individual registrations is mirrored by a decline in the number of affiliated clubs. FIP counted 3,177 clubs in 2024, down from 3,251 in 2016. That drop of 74 clubs represents a contraction of approximately 2.3 percent.
CONI’s “Les chiffres du sport 2024” report highlights a broader paradigm shift in Italian sports participation. Tennis and padel combined to reach 1,162,477 registered athletes, leapfrogging football—which recorded 1,123,054 members—to claim the top spot among national sports federations. Volleyball secured third place with 359,797 members, while basketball ranked fourth with its 320,769 athletes, followed by athletics with 292,599.
The Massive Surge in Tennis and Padel Participation
The divergence between basketball and racket sports underscores how quickly Italian sports preferences have shifted. In 2016, the federation counted 330,421 members. By 2024, fueled heavily by the integration of padel, that federation’s membership surpassed 1.16 million.
While the inclusion of padel complicates a direct historical comparison with basketball, the sheer scale of the expansion highlights the competitive pressure traditional team sports face in capturing recreational members.
Persistent Gender Disparities in Italian Basketball Registrations
Female participation remains a challenge for the FIP. Of the 320,769 athletes registered with the federation in 2024, men accounted for 272,589, while women made up 48,180.
Women comprise approximately 15 percent of total basketball registrations in Italy. That proportion places basketball ninth among national sports federations in terms of female athlete enrollment.
Neighboring European nations with comparable populations have seen vastly different trajectories in basketball engagement. In France, where the population stands at approximately 69.1 million compared to Italy’s 58.9 million, the FFBB recorded 761,949 licenses for the 2025–2026 season, with female participants making up 37.4 percent of that total. In Spain, the national federation reported more than 450,000 registered players in March, marking an increase for the fourth year.
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