Sport in Spain has been highly successful through the late 20th century and early 21st century, in a wide variety of disciplines. The most popular and high profile sport in Spain is football. Other sports in which Spain is prolific include tennis, basketball, cycling, padel, handball, rugby, rally, motorcycling, judo, Formula One, water sports, dancing, rhythmic gymnastics, bullfighting, golf, and skiing.
High profile Spanish sporting achievements of the 21st century include: Rafael Nadal's 22 major singles titles in tennis; Carlos Alcaraz's 7 major singles titles in tennis; six Davis Cup victories; team victories at the 2006 and the 2019 World Basketball Championships; the FIBA EuroBasket in 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2022; Fernando Alonso's 2005 and 2006 championships in Formula One; twelve premier class titles in MotoGP, led by Marc Márquez with seven; and ÃÂscar Pereiro, Alberto Contador and Carlos Sastre's 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 triumphs in the Tour de France. The Spanish men's football team won the Euros in 2008, 2012, and 2024, alongside the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the women's team won the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. Success has also continued for historic Spanish football clubs such as Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Some observers have claimed that Spain is enjoying something of a sporting "Golden Age" similar to the Spanish 17th century achievements in painting and literature.
Spain has also hosted many major international sporting events, such as the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Spain will host the 2030 FIFA World Cup alongside co-hosts Morocco and Portugal.
In 2014, the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) asked which sport or sports people in Spain participated in and which ones they were particularly interested in, even if they did not practice them. Allowing the respondent to give 3 answers to each question.
As of 2022, padel is the second most popular participation sport in Spain behind football. As of 2022, there were five million players in Spain and more than 20,000 courts.
The following are major sporting events held annually in Spain:
Association football, commonly known as football (or soccer), (), is the most popular sport in Spain. Football is a widespread passion among the people of Spain, and most people in Spain have at least some sort of connection to the sport. Football is the sport with the most registered players (a total of 1,063,090 of which 997,106 are men and 77,461 women, a 55% rise in women since 2014), and highest number of registered clubs (a total of 29,205) among all Spanish sport federations according to data issued by the sports administration of Spain's government in 2020.
La Liga or Primera División (The Spanish League) is considered to be one of the world's best competitions in men's football. Successful teams in recent European competitions are Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia CF and Atlético Madrid. Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated for much of their history, and created an intimate rivalry, which is known as El Clásico. Real Madrid has been dubbed by many pundits as the most successful club in the world, having won the UEFA Champions League a record 15 times, almost all other UEFA club competitions at least once, and La Liga a record 35 times. Barcelona has been European champions 5 times, and won La Liga on 26 occasions. Other teams such as Atlético Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia have also gained prominence by winning the UEFA Europa League, with 9 titles going to Spanish teams since 2004.
Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are the two most popular sports clubs on social media in the world as of 7 February 2024:
Liga F is the highest league for women's football in the country and is one of the most important leagues in Europe. FC Barcelona are the dominant team, winning the league 8 times. Barcelona has also won the Champions League three times in the last four years.
The Spain men's national team has been successful and has qualified for the FIFA World Cup tournament fifteen times since 1934. In 2010, Spain defeated the Netherlands in the final to win the tournament for the first time. In the European Championship they were champions in 1964, 2008, 2012 and 2024, and runners-up in 1984. Spain has won three medals in football Olympic Games tournaments. They have won two silver medals at the Sydney 2000 and at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, as well as two gold medals at the Barcelona 1992 and at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Women's football in Spain has seen a massive increase in popularity after being banned until the late 1970s. The Spain women's national team were champions in the 2023 World Cup.
The women's youth teams have been dominant. The national U-17 team won the U-17 European Championship in 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2018, as well as becoming champions at the 2018 and 2022 U-17 World Cups, and finalists in the 2014 U-17 World Cup. The U-19 national team won the UEFA U-19 European Championship in 2004, 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2023. The U-20 national team were runner-ups at the 2018 U-20 World Cup and then champions at the 2022 U-20 World Cup. By winning the 2022 U-17 World Cup, 2022 U-20 World Cup, and the 2023 World Cup, Spain become the first country to hold all three women's championships at the same time.
The men's youth teams have also been successful in the past. The U-20 team won the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1999 and were runners-up in 1985 and 2003. The U-17 team was runners-up three times and won third place in 1997 in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The Spanish futsal league is divided into divisions. The top teams play in the Primera División (also called Liga Nacional de Fútbol Sala). In each division, a team plays all other teams twice, once at home and once away.
The Spanish league teams compete in Europe under UEFA, most notably in the UEFA Futsal Cup with great success, being the national league holding more continental titles. The teams also compete in a domestic cup competition each year, called the Copa del Rey. The winner of the División de Honor plays against the winner of the Copa del Rey in the Supercopa de España (Super Cup).
The Spain national futsal team represents the whole country, and has twice won the World Championship and six times the UEFA Futsal Championship, which makes Spain the second international futsal power, after Brazil.
The Spanish ACB is one of the major European basketball leagues. Spanish teams such as Real Madrid Baloncesto, FC Barcelona BÃÂ squet and Joventut Badalona have won international championships such as the Euroleague or Eurocup.
A number of Spanish players such as Santi Aldama, Juancho Hernangómez, and French-Spanish Zaccharie Risacher are currently playing in the NBA. Other Spanish players who have recently played in the league include Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio, Serge Ibaka, Sergio RodrÃÂguez, and brothers Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol.
The Spanish men's national basketball team has achieved a high ranked position in the international tournament by winning their first ever gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, and have hosted the 1986 FIBA World Championship and 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. also won six silver medals and four gold medals at the EuroBasket. Most recently, they won the gold medal at EuroBasket 2011, a silver at the 2012 Summer Olympics, a gold at EuroBasket 2015, a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics, a gold at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and another gold at EuroBasket 2022. The women's national team were silver medalists at the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women (since renamed the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup) and 2016 Olympics. They have also won nine medals (three gold, one silver, five bronze) at EuroBasket Women, most recently a gold in 2017. The country finished third in the FIBA Women's World Cup in 2018. The Spanish men's national basketball team ranked 1st in the FIBA ranking in September 2022, surpassing the United States for the first time ever.
The Spanish Liga ASOBAL is one of the best club competitions. A number of Spanish teams such as BM Ciudad Real, FC Barcelona Handbol, and Portland San Antonio have won or were finalists in the EHF Champions League.
Since the 1990s the men's national team has won eight medals in top class international tournaments, with three bronze medals at the Olympics, three second and a third place at the European Championships and two World Championships (2005 and 2013).
The Spain men's national water polo team is no stranger to the world's elite of this sport. The 1990s were a particularly successful decade for the Spanish team. Major achievements included a Silver medal at the 1992 Olympics and its greatest performance to date, winning the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics.
Other remarkable performances include winning the gold medal at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships and, again, at the 2001 edition. They also took Silver at the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome. Before that, Spain had taken Silver at the 1991 edition and then again at the 1994 World Aquatics Championships.
Roller hockey (Quad) is played by professional athletes. The Spain national team has won the World Championship 14 times with 12 second places and 7 third places and also won the European Championship 14 times with 15 second places and 5 third places. The Spanish teams as FC Barcelona, Reus Deportiu, Igualada HC and HC Liceo La Coruña has won the European Clubs Cup in 44 editions, losing only in 7.
Spain featured national teams in beach volleyball that competed in the women's and men's section at the 2018âÂÂ2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.
Athletics does not have a very high profile in Spain on a week-in week-out basis, but it leaps to prominence during major championships. Spanish Athletics Championships
Cycling has been an important sport in Spain since the 1940s. The Vuelta a España (Spanish for "Tour of Spain") is one of the most important cycling events in the world, together with the Tour de France (French for "Tour of France") and Giro d'Italia (Italian for "Tour of Italy") stage races, collectively known as the Grand Tours.
Several Spanish cycling athletes have won the Tour de France, including Federico Bahamontes, Luis Ocaña, Pedro Delgado, ÃÂscar Pereiro, Alberto Contador, and Carlos Sastre. The most successful Spanish cyclist is Miguel Indurain. He won the Tour de France in five consecutive years between 1991 and 1995. He also won the Giro d'Italia in two consecutive years (1992 and 1993), the 1995 Road World Championship time trial and the gold medal in the 1996 Olympic time trial.
More recently, in 2008, Sastre became the seventh and third consecutive Spaniard to win the Tour de France, then followed by Contador winning his second tour in 2009's edition. Contador was thought to have repeated his win in 2010, but the day before Stage 17, the queen stage finishing with atop the Col du Tourmalet, Contador tested positive for performance-enhancing substance Clenbuterol. Although he claimed it was a result of consuming contaminated beef, in January 2012 the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled him guilty and gave him a two-year ban backdated from July 21, 2010, and had all his results achieved after July 21 erased, including victory in the 2010 Giro d'Italia and a 5th-place finish and most aggressive rider award for stage 19 at the 2011 Tour de France. Since returning from the ban, Contador has won the Vuelta twice, in 2012 and 2014.
ÃÂscar Freire shares the distinction of being one of four men to win the World Road Racing Championship three times, as well as being a three-time winner of one of the most prestigious one-day classic cycle races, the MilanâÂÂSan Remo. Abraham Olano won the Vuelta a España in 1998, and is the only man to win World Championships in both the road race (1995) and time trial (1998). Alejandro Valverde was the winner of the 2009 Vuelta a España, has won the one-day classic LiègeâÂÂBastogneâÂÂLiège four times, and in 2018 became World Road Race Champion after having previously finished second or third six times.
Spain has also produced some notable mountain bikers like José Antonio Hermida and track racers like Olympic medalists Joan Llaneras, José Manuel Moreno Periñán, José Antonio Escuredo or Sergi Escobar as well as multi-world champion Guillermo Timoner.
Rhythmic gymnastics is a popular sport through all Spain, so far the most successful individual rhythmic gymnasts are Carolina Pascual who won a silver medal in the individual all around competition in Barcelona 1992, Carmen Acedo who won gold medal in clubs competition in World Championships in 1993 and Almudena Cid this last is the only rhythmic gymnast who has competed at four olympic finals, placing 9th at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 being 8th at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
In the Atlanta 1996 the Spanish team won the first gold medal of the new competition by groups. The Spanish team was formed by Estela Giménez, Marta Baldó, Nuria Cabanillas, Lorena Guréndez, EstÃÂbaliz MartÃÂnez and Tania Lamarca.
Spain has found more success in the group competition than at the individual one, the country won many medals and gained prominence in the 90's which has its peak at the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta 1996, after the world championships at home in Seville 1998 the group went downhill and had inconsistent results until 2012 when they finished at the 4th place at the Olympic Games in 2012 London Olympics and a performance they would repeat at the 2013 World Championships in Kyiv where the Spanish group won the gold at the 10 clubs final and a bronze in the 3 balls + 2 ribbons final, their firsts world championships medals in 15 years, at the 2014 World Championships in ðzmir, Turkey they retained their world title in the 10 clubs final. At the 2015 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships held in Stuttgart, Germany the group won the bronze medal at the all around competition, since 1998 the Spanish group hasn't won an all around medal.
Also for the first time in 9 years the country classified two gymnast for the individual all-around final, Natalia Garcia who finished in the 19th spot and Carolina Rodriguez who got the 11th place.
Spanish tennis is particularly characterised by success on clay courts, which many Spaniards train on in their youth. Spanish players have won 28 singles titles at the French Open, the only modern clay court major. In team competition, Spain has won the Davis Cup six times (2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019) and the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup) five times (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1998).
Rafael Nadal is widely regarded as the greatest Spanish tennis player of all time, and as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. During his professional career, which spanned 2001-2024, he won 22 Grand Slam men's singles titles, the second-most in history. This included a record 14 victories at the French Open.
Despite his sobriquet as the "King of Clay", Nadal saw success on all court surfaces. After defeating then-world No. 1 Roger Federer, Nadal claimed his first Wimbledon title in a historic final in 2008. In 2009, he became the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open. By defeating Novak Djokovic in the 2010 US Open final, he became the first man in history to win majors on clay, grass, and hard courts in a calendar year (Surface Slam), and the first Spaniard to complete a Career Grand Slam. Nadal is also one of three men to achieve the Career Golden Slam in singles, and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, having won the singles event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the doubles event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Active player Carlos Alcaraz is widely regarded as Nadal's natural successor and the second-most successful Spanish tennis player of the Open Era. In 2022, Alcaraz won his first major title at the US Open, becoming the youngest man in the Open Era to reach world No. 1, at 19 years old. He finished the year as the youngest year-end No. 1 in ATP rankings history. Alcaraz has since collected a total of seven major singles titles: one at the Australian Open, two at the French Open, two at Wimbledon, and two at the US Open. With his first victory at the Australian Open in 2026, he became the second Spaniard and youngest man in history to complete the Career Grand Slam.
Spain has produced several other players who have been ranked world No. 1 in the Open Era: Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1995 (champion at the French Open in 1989, 1994, and 1998, and at the US Open in 1994), Carlos Moyá in 1999 (1998 French Open champion), Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2003 (2003 French Open champion), and Garbiñe Muguruza in 2017 (2016 French Open and 2017 Wimbledon champion). Other major singles champions include Manuel Santana (1961 and 1964 French Open; 1966 Wimbledon; 1965 US Open), Sergi Bruguera (1993 and 1994 French Open), Andrés Gimeno (1972 French Open), Conchita MartÃÂnez (1994 Wimbledon) and Albert Costa (2002 French Open).
Tennis tournaments held annually in Spain include the Madrid Open, an ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 event; the Barcelona Open, an ATP 500 event; and the Mallorca Open, an ATP 250 and WTA 125 event.
In Formula One, the two world championships of Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006, helped to make more popular this sport in Spain, other notable Spanish drivers are Alfonso de Portago, Pedro de la Rosa and currently Carlos Sainz Jr. Also, Spain host the Spanish Grand Prix currently in Montmeló and previously the European Grand Prix in Jerez (1994, 1997) and Valencia (2008âÂÂ2012).
In the World Rally Championship Spanish rally driver Carlos Sainz was crowned world champion in 1990 and 1992 and is ranked third with most wins with 26. Sainz retired from WRC in 2005 and switched to rally raid, where he won the 2010 Dakar Rally. Daniel Sordo has achieved best results since then by finishing third in the World Rally Championship in 2008 and 2009.
In endurance racing, FermÃÂn Vélez is two-time 12 Hours of Sebring winner and two-time World Sportscar Championship Group C2 champion, Marc Gené won the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2010 12 Hours of Sebring, and Antonio GarcÃÂa won the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona. Fernando Alonso won the 2018-2019 FIA WEC World Championship, taking wins at the 2018 and 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans. He also won the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona.
Spain has a long history of success in several categories of motorcycle racing.
Spain has dominated Grand Prix motorcycle racing, popularly known as MotoGP, for much of the 21st century. The first Spanish champion in the premier class was ÃÂlex Crivillé, who won the title for Honda in 1999. Spain's golden age in MotoGP began in the 2010s. Jorge Lorenzo secured three premier class titles with Yamaha, in 2010, 2012, and 2015. Active rider Marc Márquez has won seven premier class titles: with Honda in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, and with Ducati in 2025. Joan Mir won the title for Suzuki in 2020, and Jorge MartÃÂn for Ducati satellite team Pramac in 2024.
Marc Márquez is widely considered one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time. His seven premier class titles put him level with Valentino Rossi for the second-most in history, just one behind Italian legend Giacomo Agostini. Márquez has two additional world titles in the lower classes 125cc and Moto2. With his first MotoGP title in 2013, he became the youngest premier class champion of all time. In 2016, at the age of 23, Márquez equalled and still holds the all-time Grand Prix record for pole positions. He became the youngest rider to win his seventh and eighth world titles. After several years disrupted by injuries and a slow motorcycle, he left Honda for Ducati and claimed his ninth title in 2025. His brother Alex Márquez finished runner-up.
Other notable Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racers include Dani Pedrosa, often described as the greatest rider never to win a premier class championship; Nicolás Terol, Emilio Alzamora, Jorge MartÃÂnez Aspar, Sete Gibernau, Sito Pons, and ÃÂngel Nieto. Spain currently hosts several Grand Prix events: the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, the Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix, the Aragon motorcycle Grand Prix, and the Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix.
Spanish riders have also seen success in the Superbike World Championship: with Carlos Checa crowned champion in 2011 and ÃÂlvaro Bautista in 2022. Laia Sanz has won multiple women's world titles in motorcycle trials and enduro as well as several wins in the women's class of the Dakar Rally. Ana Carrasco became the first female motorcyclist to win a world title when she became Supersport 300 World Champion in 2018.
Golf has become popular among the Spanish. There are a number of courses located in different parts of Spain. They include the San Roque, Sotogrande, Valderrama, and Alcaidesa. Spain hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup.
Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros won the U.S. Masters Tournament twice, and the British Open three times. José MarÃÂa Olazábal has won two Masters titles. Jon Rahm won the U.S. Open in 2021, being the first Spaniard to do so and he also was World No.1 for several weeks in both amateur and professional rankings. Sergio GarcÃÂa spent much of his career in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings (over 250 weeks between 2000 and 2008) and won the 2017 Masters. In the women's game, Spain fielded the winning team in the inaugural International Crown in 2014.
Well known boxers from Spain include:
Spain has several judokas ranked in the top spots of the IJF ranking list, including Francisco Garrigós (#2 in -60kg), Alberto Gaitero (#7 in -66kg), Salvador Cases (#10 in -73kg), Ai Tsunoda (#5 in -70kg) and Julia Figueroa (#3 in -48kg) in the senior category, and Gemma Maria Gómez (#6 in -48kg), Marina Castelló (#3 in -52kg), Marta GarcÃÂa (#4 in -57kg) and Laura Vázquez (#2 in -63kg) in the junior category. Spain has multiple Olympic medallists in judo: Francisco Garrigós (bronze in Paris 2024) and Ernesto Pérez (silver in Atlanta 1996) are its only male Olympic medallists. Yolanda Soler (bronze in Barcelona 1992), Almudena Muñoz and Miriam Blasco (both gold in Barcelona 1992) and Isabel Fernández (bronze in Atlanta 1996 and gold in Sydney 2000) are its female Olympic medallists. In addition, Nikoloz Sherazadishvili was Spain's first male world champion, doing so in 2018 and 2021. Francisco Garrigós won the title in 2023. Miriam Blasco won the title in 1991 and Almudena Muñoz did the same in 1997. Sugoi Uriarte, JoaquÃÂn Ruiz, Oiana Blanco, Sara ÃÂlvarez and MarÃÂa Bernabéu are also silver medallists in the World Championships. Paralympic judoka Carmen Herrera is one of the only two female paralympic judokas to win three gold medals in Paralympic Games, and Marta Arce is the only Spanish paralympic judoka to win four medals at the Games.
Damián Quintero and Sandra Sánchez are currently ranked #2 and #3 respectively in their Kata categories, and are both Olympic medalists, with Sánchez being the gold medalist in the female kata and Quintero the silver medalist in male kata at the 2020 Olympics. In addition, Sánchez is a multiple European and World champion in kata, as so is Quintero.
During the 2000s, Spanish swimmer Gemma Mengual has heralded a series of both individual and team medals for Spain in all the major international synchronized swimming tournaments, including the silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Mengual's coach, Ana Tarrés, who herself represented Spain in the sport at the 1984 Summer Olympics, also served as coach of the national team from 1997 to 2012: during her time in charge the team enjoyed great success, taking four Olympic medals, 26 World Championship medals, and 25 European Championship medals. Other Spanish synchronised swimmers to enjoy success in international competition since the emergence of Mengual include Paola Tirados, Andrea Fuentes, the most decorated swimmer in the history of the Spain national team, Ona Carbonell and Margalida CrespÃÂ.
Skiing is a popular sport. In the past, this sport was under development for economic reasons. However the improvement of the economy of Spain, helped skiing become an active sport event. It has become popular, and the skiing sites have been modernized in recent years. In Spain the southernmost ski resort of Europe, Sierra Nevada, is located. Skiing is one of the favourite sports of the Spanish Royal Family.
Spain has enjoyed some success in competitive alpine skiing. Skiers who have won races in the Alpine Skiing World Cup include Carolina Ruiz Castillo, MarÃÂa José Rienda, and siblings Blanca and Francisco Fernández Ochoa. The Fernández Ochoas are the only Spanish athletes to have won medals at the Winter Olympics, with Francisco winning a gold medal in the men's slalom in the 1972 Winter Olympics and Blanca winning a bronze in the women's equivalent twenty years later.
Royal Spanish Sailing Federation
Linares International Chess Tournament
Valencian pilota is a traditional Valencian sports. Tournaments includes trinquete, Trofeu Individual Bancaixa, Circuit Bancaixa, raspall singles championship, and raspall team championship.
The following is a list of stadiums with a capacity of at least 30,000.
The following is a list of indoor stadiums in Spain, ordered by capacity.
Alpine skiing
Nordic skiing