Tennis passes football in the membership count
In the country of Totti and Baggio, a racket now outweighs a ball. The Italian tennis and padel federation (FITP) reports 1,162,477 members, or 20.2% of all federation registrations. The Italian football federation (FIGC) has 1,123,054, or 19.5%.
Local press published the figures, which RMC Sport picked up on Wednesday. According to RMC, the actual crossover happened back in 2024, so the gap is now confirmed rather than new.
Football has been the reference point of organised sport in Italy for over a century. That order has flipped.
no renewal
Free for 2 weeks.
Sinner, Challengers and money
Jannik Sinner is the obvious driver. RMC lists him as world number one with five Grand Slam titles, and he is not alone at the top end: Flavio Cobolli is fifth in the ATP rankings, Luciano Darderi 21st, Lorenzo Musetti 25th, Matteo Arnaldi 36th and Matteo Berrettini 45th.
The federation has spent heavily on courts, schools and coaches. The sharpest change is in the calendar. Twenty-five years ago Italy hosted eight men’s Challengers and 16 Futures events. Today it stages about 90 international tournaments across the men’s and women’s tours, including the Rome Masters 1000, the WTA 1000 in Rome and the ATP Finals in Turin.
Money tells the same story. In 2025 the FITP took in more than 240 million euros against 214 million for the FIGC, which RMC links partly to the lack of a major international tournament for the national team. The FITP projects revenue above 280 million euros in 2026. The Azzurri have missed the last three World Cups, according to RMC.
Discover the rest of our Tennis news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply