SporttiData’s licence data shows clear differences between participants in individual and team sports: Retention rates among participants in team sports are consistently higher than among participants in individual sports. This difference is evident among both single-sport and multi-sport participants.
In an analysis based on SporttiData’s data, licensed participants were categorized into participant profiles based on individual and team sports. A single-sport participant held a licence for only one sport each year, while a multi-sport participant held licences in multiple sports. The profile was determined based on whether the participant’s sports were individual or team sports. In addition, participants who held licenses for both individual and team sports were examined as a separate group. The analysis is based on data from over 420,000 licensed participants.
Team sport participants have higher retention rates
In the follow-up covering the years 2022–2025, 85.8 percent of those who participated in multiple team sports in 2022 were still licensed participants in 2025, while the corresponding figure for multi-sport participants in individual sports was 77.3 percent. For single-sport participants, the corresponding figures were 58.7 percent for team sports and 52.7 percent for individual sports.
Similar differences can also be observed among 9–13-year-olds. Of those who participated in multiple team sports in 2022, 86.6 percent were still licensed participants in 2025. Among those who participated in only one individual sport, the corresponding figure was 49.7 percent.
Most licensed participants have ties to team sports
The prominence of team sports is also evident in the number of participants. In 2025, approximately 78.5 percent of licensed participants were involved in a team sport, and nearly 70 percent of all licensed participants held a licence for only one sport, which was a team sport.
However, the results of the analysis do not imply that higher retention rates are caused by any individual team sport itself. There are differences between sports, and factors such as club structures, training groups and participation costs may contribute to these differences. The observed differences primarily reflect differences between participant profiles rather than causal relationships between sports.
Further analysis could explore whether the differences between individual and team sports vary by region and how factors such as urbanization, the availability of sports facilities and population structure are associated with participant profiles.
This analysis is the third installment in the SporttiData Insight series, which examines key phenomena in sport based on data from the SporttiData report. The first articles in the series addressed participation in multiple sports and retention rates.