{"id":6242,"date":"2026-07-10T16:19:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/?p=6242"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:20:10","slug":"polish-sport-becomes-more-professional-90893","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/polish-sport-becomes-more-professional-90893\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish Sport Becomes More Professional"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Polish sport is becoming increasingly professional at the organisational level. In 2025, the number of licensed athletes rose by 10.8% year on year, the number of sports officials increased by 19.1%, and employment of medical staff in sports federations surged by as much as 42.4%. At the same time, the number of sports federations remained unchanged, showing that the sector is growing mainly by expanding the scale of existing organisations and strengthening specialist teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-wrap\">\n<style>\n.ceokf25-wrap{--ceo-navy:#131F49;--ceo-amber:#e67a2d;--ceo-gray:#f4f4f4;--ceo-gray2:#6b6b6b;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,\"Segoe UI\",Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#232323;line-height:1.65;max-width:100%;}\n.ceokf25-wrap h2,.ceokf25-wrap h3{font-family:Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;color:var(--ceo-navy);}\n.ceokf25-kicker{display:inline-block;background:var(--ceo-amber);color:#ffffff !important;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1.5px;text-transform:uppercase;padding:6px 14px;border-radius:3px;margin-bottom:16px;}\n.ceokf25-h2{font-size:30px;line-height:1.25;margin:0 0 14px;font-weight:700;}\n.ceokf25-dateline{color:var(--ceo-gray2);font-size:13px;margin-bottom:22px;border-bottom:1px solid #e4e4e4;padding-bottom:14px;}\n.ceokf25-lead{border-left:4px solid var(--ceo-amber);padding:4px 0 4px 18px;font-size:18px;color:#333;margin:0 0 30px;}\n.ceokf25-kpi-grid{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(4,1fr);gap:14px;margin:0 0 34px;}\n@media(max-width:820px){.ceokf25-kpi-grid{grid-template-columns:repeat(2,1fr);}}\n@media(max-width:520px){.ceokf25-kpi-grid{grid-template-columns:1fr;}}\n.ceokf25-kpi{background:var(--ceo-gray);border-top:3px solid var(--ceo-amber);border-radius:4px;padding:16px 16px 14px;}\n.ceokf25-kpi-label{font-size:12px;color:var(--ceo-gray2);text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.5px;margin-bottom:6px;}\n.ceokf25-kpi-value{font-size:26px;font-weight:700;color:var(--ceo-navy);line-height:1.1;}\n.ceokf25-kpi-delta{font-size:13px;margin-top:6px;font-weight:600;}\n.ceokf25-kpi-delta.up{color:#1a7d1a;}\n.ceokf25-kpi-delta.down{color:var(--ceo-amber);}\n.ceokf25-h3{font-size:21px;margin:34px 0 12px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:3px solid var(--ceo-amber);display:inline-block;}\n.ceokf25-p{margin:0 0 16px;font-size:16px;}\n.ceokf25-chart-box{background:#ffffff;border:1px solid #e4e4e4;border-radius:6px;padding:18px 18px 8px;margin:18px 0 28px;}\n.ceokf25-chart-title{font-size:14px;font-weight:700;color:var(--ceo-navy);margin-bottom:10px;}\n.ceokf25-chart-canvas-wrap{position:relative;height:320px;}\n.ceokf25-table{width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;margin:18px 0 28px;font-size:14.5px;}\n.ceokf25-table th{background:var(--ceo-navy);color:#ffffff !important;text-align:left;padding:10px 12px;font-weight:600;}\n.ceokf25-table td{padding:9px 12px;border-bottom:1px solid #e4e4e4;}\n.ceokf25-table tr:nth-child(even) td{background:#fafafa;}\n.ceokf25-table tr.ceokf25-total td{background:#fbe6d5;font-weight:700;}\n.ceokf25-table-note{font-size:12px;color:var(--ceo-gray2);margin:-18px 0 26px;}\n.ceokf25-callout{background:var(--ceo-navy);border-left:5px solid var(--ceo-amber);border-radius:4px;padding:20px 22px;margin:26px 0;}\n.ceokf25-callout p{color:#ffffff !important;margin:0 0 10px;font-size:15.5px;}\n.ceokf25-callout p:last-child{margin-bottom:0;}\n.ceokf25-takeaways{background:var(--ceo-gray);border-radius:6px;padding:20px 24px;margin:28px 0;}\n.ceokf25-takeaways ul{margin:0;padding-left:20px;}\n.ceokf25-takeaways li{margin-bottom:10px;font-size:15px;}\n.ceokf25-source{font-size:12.5px;color:var(--ceo-gray2);border-top:1px solid #e4e4e4;padding-top:14px;margin-top:30px;}\n<\/style>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-grid\">\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi\">\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-label\">Licensed athletes<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-value\">949,776<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-delta up\">\u25b2 10.8% YoY<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi\">\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-label\">Medical personnel in federations<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-value\">433 people<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-delta up\">\u25b2 42.4% YoY<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi\">\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-label\">Sports officials<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-value\">42,383<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-delta up\">\u25b2 19.1% YoY<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi\">\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-label\">Physical culture units<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-value\">6,600<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-kpi-delta up\">\u25b2 2.7% YoY<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-h3\">A Stable Number of Organisations and a Growing Scale of Operations<\/div>\n<p class=\"ceokf25-p\">The number of Polish sports federations remained unchanged in 2025 at 70, the same as a year earlier, as did the number of regional sports associations, which stood at 551. From a management perspective, this points to a mature and stable industry structure: growth is not being achieved by multiplying the number of entities, but by expanding the scale of operations within existing organisations. The number of licensed athletes increased to 949,800, from 857,700 in 2024, representing growth of 10.8% year on year. The share of women remained unchanged at 20.1%, while the proportion of senior athletes declined slightly to 32.1% from 32.6%, indicating that the licensed athlete base is gradually becoming younger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ceokf25-p\">The athlete market remains highly concentrated: football accounts for 48.8% of all licences, followed by sports shooting with 10.8% and volleyball with 6.0%. The remaining several dozen federations share the other 34.4% of athletes, representing a typical industry structure with one dominant segment and a long tail of smaller organisations.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-chart-box\">\n<div class=\"ceokf25-chart-title\">Structure of Athletes by Sports Federation, 2025<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-chart-canvas-wrap\"><canvas id=\"ceokf25chart1\"><\/canvas><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-h3\">Employment and Professional Licences: Oversight Roles Are Growing Faster Than Coaching Staff<\/div>\n<p class=\"ceokf25-p\">The direction of workforce growth is particularly interesting from a labour-market perspective. The number of coaches increased by 5.9% year on year to 40,700, while the number of instructors rose by 7.8% to 14,400. The number of sports officials, however, increased by as much as 19.1% to 42,400, more than three times faster than the number of coaches. This indicates that organised sport in Poland is investing relatively more in supervisory and control functions than in the direct training of athletes. Women account for 21.3% of sports officials, while 4.2% hold international qualifications. The highest numbers of officiating licences were issued in sports shooting, which accounted for 28.1%, and football, with 18.8%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ceokf25-p\">An even clearer sign of professionalisation can be seen in employment directly within sports federations. The number of coaching staff employed by the federations increased to 685, up by 17 from the previous year, while medical personnel rose to 433 from 304 a year earlier, an increase of 42.4%. For organisations managing the infrastructure of competitive sport, this growth is comparable to the scale of investment in compliance and risk management in the corporate sector, reflecting a response to increasing requirements concerning athlete safety and institutional responsibility.<\/p>\n\n<table class=\"ceokf25-table\">\n<tbody><tr><th>Category<\/th><th>Total<\/th><th>Including women<\/th><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Polish national team members<\/td><td>10,439<\/td><td>4,315<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;including juniors<\/td><td>4,487<\/td><td>2,041<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr class=\"ceokf25-total\"><td>Athletes<\/td><td>949,776<\/td><td>191,261<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;including juniors<\/td><td>604,547<\/td><td>146,365<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Coaches<\/td><td>40,672<\/td><td>4,426<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Instructors<\/td><td>14,362<\/td><td>4,278<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>Sports officials<\/td><td>42,383<\/td><td>9,040<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;including those with international qualifications<\/td><td>1,792<\/td><td>454<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/tbody><\/table>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-table-note\">Table 1. Key information on Polish sports federations in 2025. Athletes, coaches, instructors and sports officials may be counted more than once if they hold licences in several sports overseen by the same federation. Source: Statistics Poland.<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-h3\">International Results: Decline at World Championships and Stability in Europe<\/div>\n<p class=\"ceokf25-p\">Investment in professional staff has not yet translated into improved medal results at the highest level. At the 2025 World Championships, Polish athletes won 239 medals, including 66 gold, 81 silver and 92 bronze, compared with 311 medals a year earlier. This decline should be monitored as an indicator of the effectiveness of investment in support structures. At the European Championships, the result remained virtually unchanged at 509 medals, including 132 gold, 163 silver and 214 bronze, exactly the same total as in 2024. The highest numbers of World Championship medals were won in air sports, with 43 medals including 11 gold, kickboxing with 26, and freediving with 17. At the European Championships, kickboxing was the most successful discipline with 68 medals, followed by sumo with 41.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ceokf25-p\">Athletes with disabilities recorded the opposite trend, winning 99 World Championship medals compared with 56 in 2024, and 80 European Championship medals compared with 86 a year earlier. This represents an almost twofold increase in the World Championship result, accompanied by a slight decline in Europe. Athletics delivered the best World Championship results, with 41 medals including 21 gold, while table tennis produced the strongest European Championship performance, with 16 medals including five gold.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-chart-box\">\n<div class=\"ceokf25-chart-title\">Medals Won by Polish Athletes: 2024 vs 2025<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-chart-canvas-wrap\"><canvas id=\"ceokf25chart2\"><\/canvas><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<table class=\"ceokf25-table\">\n<tbody><tr><th>Category<\/th><th>Total<\/th><th>Gold<\/th><th>Silver<\/th><th>Bronze<\/th><\/tr>\n<tr><td>World Championships<\/td><td>239<\/td><td>66<\/td><td>81<\/td><td>92<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;including youth and junior athletes<\/td><td>75<\/td><td>19<\/td><td>24<\/td><td>32<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>European Championships<\/td><td>509<\/td><td>132<\/td><td>163<\/td><td>214<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;including youth and junior athletes<\/td><td>337<\/td><td>83<\/td><td>112<\/td><td>142<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>World Championships for athletes with disabilities<\/td><td>99<\/td><td>34<\/td><td>32<\/td><td>33<\/td><\/tr>\n<tr><td>European Championships for athletes with disabilities<\/td><td>80<\/td><td>26<\/td><td>22<\/td><td>32<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/tbody><\/table>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-table-note\">Table 2. Medals won by Polish athletes in international competitions in 2025. The data cover sports overseen by Polish sports federations. Source: Statistics Poland.<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-h3\">Physical Culture Organisations: The Formal Membership Base Is Growing, but Actual Participation Is Declining<\/div>\n<p class=\"ceokf25-p\">The four main physical culture organisations \u2014 the University Sports Association, or AZS; the National Association of Rural Sports Clubs, or LZS; the Polish Sports Association for Persons with Disabilities \u201cStart\u201d; and the Society for the Promotion of Physical Culture, or TKKF \u2014 reported a combined total of 6,600 organisational units, up 2.7% year on year, and 341,900 members, an increase of 14,300. At the same time, the number of people actively participating in sport declined to 303,500, down by 5,500. This is a classic problem for membership-based organisations: a widening gap between formal growth in the membership base and actual participant engagement, a challenge also familiar to managers of subscription businesses and industry associations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ceokf25-p\">The National Association of Rural Sports Clubs had the largest scale of operations, with 206,700 members and 178,300 active participants, followed by AZS with 90,400 members and 50,000 active participants. TKKF remains an exception to the general pattern of having fewer active participants than members: its 42,900 members generate as many as 73,900 active participants. This organisational model may be worth analysing by other federations looking for ways to increase actual participation.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-chart-box\">\n<div class=\"ceokf25-chart-title\">Members and Active Participants by Physical Culture Organisation, 2025 (Thousands)<\/div>\n<div class=\"ceokf25-chart-canvas-wrap\"><canvas id=\"ceokf25chart3\"><\/canvas><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"ceokf25-p\">Men continue to dominate the participation structure, accounting for 68.4% of active participants, compared with 69.2% in 2024. People aged 18 or under represented 50.4%, compared with 50.6% a year earlier, which means that grassroots participation in sport remains largely youth-based. The highest number of members was recorded in Lubelskie Voivodeship, with 11.7% of the total, while the highest number of active participants was reported in Wielkopolskie Voivodeship, with 12.2%. The number of organised events declined to 77,800 from 80,400, but the number of participants increased to 3.6 million from 3.4 million. In other words, fewer events were held, but each attracted more people.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-callout\">\n<p><strong>Management perspective:<\/strong> the 42% year-on-year increase in medical personnel and the 19% rise in sports officials, alongside a stable number of sports federations, demonstrate a typical pattern seen in a mature industry: investment is shifting away from expanding organisational structures and towards operational quality and compliance.<\/p>\n<p>For companies and institutions working with sports federations, including sponsors, providers of medical and training services, and event technology companies, growing demand for specialist staff is creating an expanding, although still niche, professional services market associated with competitive sport.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-takeaways\">\n<ul>\n<li>The number of sports federations remains unchanged at 70, while growth is being achieved through the scaling of operations, with the number of licensed athletes rising by 10.8% year on year.<\/li>\n<li>Employment is growing fastest in supervisory and medical roles: medical personnel in federations increased by 42.4% year on year and sports officials by 19.1%, significantly faster than coaches, whose number rose by 5.9%.<\/li>\n<li>Football remains the dominant licensed sport, accounting for 48.8% of athletes, ahead of sports shooting and volleyball.<\/li>\n<li>Medal results at the World Championships deteriorated, falling to 239 from 311 medals, while the European Championship result remained unchanged at 509 medals.<\/li>\n<li>Athletes with disabilities recorded the opposite trend, with the number of World Championship medals almost doubling to 99 from 56 in 2024.<\/li>\n<li>The number of members in physical culture organisations increased by 14,300, but the number of people actively participating declined by 5,500, indicating a need to reconsider participant engagement models.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"ceokf25-source\">Source: Statistics Poland. Prepared by the Statistical Office in Rzesz\u00f3w on the basis of \u201cPhysical Culture in Poland in 2025\u201d, Statistics Poland Statistical Release, 10 July 2026. The data are preliminary. Sports federations are classified in accordance with the list published by the Minister of Sport and Tourism in the communication dated 22 July 2024.<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<script class=\"nowprocket\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnjs.cloudflare.com\/ajax\/libs\/Chart.js\/4.4.1\/chart.umd.min.js\"><\/script>\n\n<script class=\"nowprocket\" data-cfasync=\"false\">\n(function(){\n  var attempts = 0;\n  var maxAttempts = 100;\n  function tryInit(){\n    attempts++;\n    if (typeof Chart === 'undefined') {\n      if (attempts < maxAttempts) { setTimeout(tryInit, 100); }\n      return;\n    }\n    clearInterval(pollTimer);\n\n    try {\n      var c1 = document.getElementById('ceokf25chart1');\n      if (c1) {\n        new Chart(c1.getContext('2d'), {\n          type: 'doughnut',\n          data: {\n            labels: ['Football', 'Sports shooting', 'Volleyball', 'Other federations'],\n            datasets: [{\n              data: [48.8, 10.8, 6.0, 34.4],\n              backgroundColor: ['#131F49', '#e67a2d', '#8a8a8a', '#c9d1e8'],\n              borderColor: '#ffffff',\n              borderWidth: 2\n            }]\n          },\n          options: {\n            responsive: true,\n            maintainAspectRatio: false,\n            plugins: {\n              legend: { position: 'bottom', labels: { font: { size: 12 } } },\n              tooltip: {\n                callbacks: {\n                  label: function(ctx){ return ctx.label + ': ' + ctx.parsed.toLocaleString('en-GB') + '%'; }\n                }\n              }\n            }\n          }\n        });\n      }\n    } catch(e) { console.error('ceokf25 chart1 error', e); }\n\n    try {\n      var c2 = document.getElementById('ceokf25chart2');\n      if (c2) {\n        new Chart(c2.getContext('2d'), {\n          type: 'bar',\n          data: {\n            labels: ['World Championships', 'European Championships'],\n            datasets: [\n              { label: '2024', data: [311, 509], backgroundColor: '#8a8a8a' },\n              { label: '2025', data: [239, 509], backgroundColor: '#e67a2d' }\n            ]\n          },\n          options: {\n            responsive: true,\n            maintainAspectRatio: false,\n            scales: { y: { beginAtZero: true, title: { display: true, text: 'Number of medals' } } },\n            plugins: {\n              legend: { position: 'bottom' },\n              tooltip: {\n                callbacks: {\n                  label: function(ctx){ return ctx.dataset.label + ': ' + ctx.parsed.y.toLocaleString('en-GB') + ' medals'; }\n                }\n              }\n            }\n          }\n        });\n      }\n    } catch(e) { console.error('ceokf25 chart2 error', e); }\n\n    try {\n      var c3 = document.getElementById('ceokf25chart3');\n      if (c3) {\n        new Chart(c3.getContext('2d'), {\n          type: 'bar',\n          data: {\n            labels: ['LZS', 'AZS', 'TKKF', 'PZSN \"Start\"'],\n            datasets: [\n              { label: 'Members', data: [206.7, 90.4, 42.9, 1.8], backgroundColor: '#131F49' },\n              { label: 'Active participants', data: [178.3, 50.0, 73.9, 1.4], backgroundColor: '#e67a2d' }\n            ]\n          },\n          options: {\n            responsive: true,\n            maintainAspectRatio: false,\n            scales: { y: { beginAtZero: true, title: { display: true, text: 'thousand people' } } },\n            plugins: {\n              legend: { position: 'bottom' },\n              tooltip: {\n                callbacks: {\n                  label: function(ctx){ return ctx.dataset.label + ': ' + ctx.parsed.y.toLocaleString('en-GB') + ' thousand'; }\n                }\n              }\n            }\n          }\n        });\n      }\n    } catch(e) { console.error('ceokf25 chart3 error', e); }\n  }\n  var pollTimer = setInterval(tryInit, 100);\n  tryInit();\n})();\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Polish sport is becoming increasingly professional at the organisational level. In 2025, the number of licensed athletes rose by 10.8% year on year, the number of sports officials increased by 19.1%, and employment of medical staff in sports federations surged by as much as 42.4%. At the same time, the number of sports federations remained [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Polish sport is no longer only about athletes, coaches and medals. It is also becoming a network of increasingly professional organisations employing specialist staff.\n\nIn 2025, the number of licensed athletes rose to nearly 950,000, the number of sports officials increased by 19.1%, and employment of medical staff in sports federations surged by as much as 42.4%.\n\nImportantly, the number of Polish sports federations remained unchanged. This means that the sector is growing not through the creation of new organisations, but by expanding the scale of existing structures and investing in professional support teams.\n\nAt the same time, Poland won fewer medals at world championships, while physical culture organisations reported more members but fewer people actively participating in sport.\n\nWill rising employment and greater professionalisation translate into stronger sporting results in the coming years?\n\n#sport #labourmarket #employment #Poland #management #sportsbusiness","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2663],"tags":[2690,64,2731,322,2778],"class_list":["post-6242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sport","tag-gap","tag-poland","tag-professional-services","tag-rzeszow","tag-teams"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceo.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}