The event will take place on June 18 an 19 at IFEMA in Madrid.
Sports Summit Madrid 2025, created through the alliance between Sports Summit and MADCUP, with its MADISS project, with the support of the Madrid City Council, as well as the support of the World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), UFEDEMA and the CEOE through the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sports, will be the first major international congress and tradeshow in which all sports industries will come together with all the sectors linked to professional sports. It will be a space where the sports industry will come together with professionals from the worlds of tourism, education, audiovisual and media, health and well-being, sustainability, innovation and technology, and the textile sector, creating synergies that will boost their economic development in Madrid and Spain, promoting the networking of professionals in these sectors.
The event will have a clear Ibero-American focus, since it is held in alliance with Sports Summit, the largest B2B event in the sports industry in the Americas, with editions held in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, and an upcoming one in São Paulo on May 7-9, 2024.
Sports Summit Madrid 2025, a unique event in the world that connects all productive sectors linked to sports, was born in Madrid, the capital of world sports, thus twinning with the largest professional forums that are organized in some of the capital cities of Ibero-America, members of the UCCI, an organization led by Almudena Maíllo as general secretary.
In 2024, Sports Summit will hold its new edition in São Paulo, from May 7 to 9, surpassing the 4,000 professionals and 40 countries it welcomed during its previous edition. Pepe Ortiz, general director of MADCUP-MADISS and Fernando Young, from Sports Summit, highlight the relevance of this event in Madrid, Spain, linking sports professionals from both sides of the Atlantic.
Sports Summit Madrid 2025 was born with a series of defined objectives for the growth and development of the sports industry and all the sectors that surround it, promoting tourism and all industries associated with sports. Among these objectives, we can highlight the following:
1. Promoting entrepreneurship and networking among professionals from the different value chains linked to sport (tourism, education, health and well-being, innovation, sustainability, the environment, the textile sector, media communication and the audiovisual sector).
2. Promoting women’s sports. Likewise, encouraging inclusive sports, giving it the prominence and visibility it deserves.
3. Promoting sports practices, betting on the prevention and improvement of physical and mental health through sports.
4. Bring sports -sports services and the practice of sport- closer to the business ecosystem, society and the media.
5. Promoting and consolidating school and university sports.
6. Reconciling and adapting academic curricula with sports.
7. Creating the largest employment network in the sports industry and related sectors.
8. Generating knowledge and instruments to improve the competitiveness of the sports industry that allows its consolidation in the economic ecosystem.
9. Exploring alliances to make governance and public-private, private-private and public-public collaboration channels more efficient.
10. Promoting sustainability in sport in its triple dimension: social, environmental and economic.
In this way, Sports Summit Madrid 2025 will be a major global event, focused on sport and all value chains, highlighting its direct and indirect impact on a large number of sectors. It was born with the aim of consolidating itself as a unique concept, whose mission is to promote professionals and companies around the sports economy, generating essential alliances to unite sport with society, creating opportunities and promoting business development and competition, ingredients that, without a doubt, will lead to the improvement of society’s well-being, the diversification of tourist flows around sport, and creating better job opportunities, directly and indirectly.
Sonia Cea, councilor of the Sports Area of the Council of Madrid, and Almudena Maíllo, head of the Delegated Area of Tourism, highlight the importance of this project for Madrid, which will mark a before and after for the industries linked to sports, with the support of the City Council, as well as UN Tourism and the CEO. “Our goal is to make Madrid the great place for international sports. This involves being a reference and generating synergies and trends on a large scale. That is why we are betting on MADISS – Sports Summit Madrid, because we believe that it will be a good tool for this goal”, said Sonia Cea.
Enrique Cerezo, president of the Culture and Sports Commission of the CEOE highlights “the role of the business community in supporting the development of the sports industry, and the need for the existence of a business forum like Sports Summit Madrid where all industries associated can coexist.”
In the words of Ion Vilcu, director of Affiliate Members of UN Tourism, “sports play a priority role in the development of more sustainable and inclusive tourism. In recent years, the Sports Tourism segment has experienced significant growth. It not only generates economic activity, but also a positive impact for local communities and destinations when it comes to diversifying their tourism offer. From UN Tourism, we will continue to support initiatives and events such as Sports Summit Madrid, with the participation of our Affiliate Members, which contribute to generating knowledge and good practices for professionals in the sector.”
Vicente Martínez, president of the Union of Madrid Sports Federations (UFEDEMA), commented: “Madrid is used to hosting a multitude of sporting events. Our city is an example of hospitality and good work, hence the trust that so many international federations place in us when it comes to organizing their events. Surely Sports Summit Madrid will be an example of values and good work, as our motto says: Together we are many, united we are more.”
The professional event will be held between June 18 and 19, 2025, at IFEMA Madrid, coinciding with the celebration of the fifth edition of MADCUP, the largest international federated soccer tournament that has the collaboration of the Community of Madrid (Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports), of the City Councils of Madrid, Alcalá de Henares, Torrejón de Ardoz, San Fernando de Henares, Paracuellos del Jarama, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Majadahonda, Alcobendas, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Las Rozas and Leganés. Likewise, from the Atlético de Madrid Academy, the Royal Madrid Football Federation (RFFM), the Royal Spanish Football Federation and PROLIGA. A project supported by companies such as biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb, which responds to the objectives of the Spain Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy, for the Recovery and Economic Transformation for Sports, Tourism and the Creative and Cultural Industries, and its integration in the fields of Youth, Education, Sports and Tourism. Since 2021, it has been recognized by the CSD – Higher Sports Council – as an Event of Exceptional Public Interest. MADCUP has the support and collaboration of UFEDEMA, the Union of Madrid Sports Federations. Its mission is to act on behalf of its members, defending their interests, coordinating support and promotional activities, and providing services for them. In collaboration with MADCUP, UFEDEMA commits to the joint development of various initiatives, promoting the sports scene, encouraging participation and promoting excellence in the sports field in Madrid and beyond.
