Sport in Spain

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 Óscar 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), (Spanish: Fútbol asociación), 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.