Basketball's popularity in Italy

According to the report The Numbers of Sport 2024, published by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), basketball is the fourth most popular sport in Italy with 320,769 registered male and female players in 2024. This number is more than two times less than in France and only 1.5% higher than in 2016.

Decline in basketball clubs in Italy

The number of clubs affiliated with the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP) has declined from 3,251 in 2016 to 3,177 in 2024, a decrease of about 2.3%. The CONI data analysis for 2016 reveals that the FIP had 315,879 registered athletes, compared to 320,769 in 2024.

Growth in overall sports participation in Italy

Therefore, the increase is only 4,890, or 1.5% over eight years. During the same period, the total number of registered athletes with Italian sports federations and associated sports bodies has increased from about 4.58 million to more than 6.06 million, a growth of more than 32%.

Shift in popular sports in Italy

The report also confirms a paradigm shift in Italian sports, with tennis and padel surpassing football (1,123,054) in terms of membership, with 1,162,477 registered athletes. In third place is volleyball, with 359,797 members, followed by basketball with 320,769 and athletics with 292,599.

Gender disparity in Italian basketball

The female basketball sector represents only 15% of the members. Of the 320,769 athletes registered with the FIP in 2024, 272,589 are men and only 48,180 are women. The female sector therefore represents about 15% of the total, with basketball occupying the ninth place among national federations in terms of the number of female athletes registered.

Basketball in France and Spain

In France, the FFBB recorded 761,949 licenses for the entire 2025-2026 season with 37.4% female. In Spain, the federation announced in March a record number of licenses, more than 450,000, an increase for the fourth consecutive year.