The social and solidarity economy (ESS), which irrigates French association sport with its neighborhood clubs and territorial animation structures, has just suffered a brutal shock. The ESS France economic report for Q4 2025 clearly attests to this: over one year, the sector lost 10,447 net jobs at the end of December, an unprecedented turnaround since the Covid crisis. The ESS is 2.7 million employees, 13.4% of private non-agricultural jobs, and a sprawling network of 147,000 structures that support amateur sport on a daily basis. This bloodletting comes at the worst time, while federations and sponsors are still looking for their post-2024 Olympic compass.
Sport and leisure are stumbling heavily in this slump: -1,457 positions over one year, or -1.1% of the workforce. Recreational and leisure activities plunged by 1.9%, sports clubs themselves lost 0.93% of their employees, and other sporting services fell by 1.5%. These figures are not abstract: they affect the educators of rural clubs, the leaders of recreational centers, the supervisors of adapted sports who ensure the training of children and the inclusion of the vulnerable. Associations, the pivot of local sport, absorb 80% of the shock with -12,305 jobs evaporated. Mutual societies, historical patrons of amateur rugby or adapted handball, are not left out: -2,465 positions (-1.95%), the most violent decline in the entire ESS. Only foundations (+3,684 jobs) and cooperatives (+640) are still standing, but their momentum is weakening.
Benoît Hamon, president of ESS France, does not mince his words in the editorial: “The turnaround initiated at the beginning of the year is now confirmed. The ESS destroys jobs. The outlook for 2026 looks even tougher. » Behind these lines, it is social cohesion that is crumbling. In sport, this translates into clubs closing their football schools, canceled inter-district tournaments, staff reduced to nothing. The uncertainty of public finances weighs like a ball and chain on subsidies, while the lucrative private sector is eating away at shares in sporting events. On a regional scale, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur limits the damage (quasi-stagnation at 0.0%), but elsewhere, there is widespread decline, with striking contrasts in Overseas.
A.J.
PakarPBN
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