Best Sports Universities in Europe 2026 – QS World University Rankings

The science of sports has emerged relatively recently, but every year it is becoming more and more popular as the sports industry gains momentum. Huge funds are invested in sports events, a whole world has arisen around the sport itself: organizations that manage sports, build sports facilities, organize competitions at all levels, cover them and so on.

All these activities require trained specialists. Activities for the organization of sports events attract many sponsors, as a huge audience of interested viewers makes these events promising for advertising companies. This explains the special popularity of the specialty "Sports Management" in universities.

Future sports managers in European universities study both general disciplines that will allow them to make a career not only in the field of sports, but also specific:

• Administration of information systems
• Study of tools for analysis, evaluation of the role of digital communities, social media in sports
• Study of the operating environment of sports organizations, functional areas, analytical tools
• Micro and macroeconomics
• Mastering the main tools of sports market research - qualitative and quantitative analysis, diagnostics
• Mastering the main marketing strategies for the internationalization of sports events
• Mastering the skills of analysis, implementation of marketing, sponsorship strategies, launch, positioning of new products
• Strategic Management
• Human Resource Management
• Finance
• Formation of product, pricing policy.

In recent decades, fitness ideas have gained immense popularity:

• Healthy lifestyle
• Healthy Eating
• Sports nutrition
• Methods of rejuvenation of the body
• Prolongation of active longevity.

Specialists in the field of fitness are in demand no less than in the field of sports, their work is also highly paid.

Universities also provide the necessary knowledge for students of sports departments in the field of:

• Psychology
• Pedagogy
• Skills in managing personnel and business
• Communication skills.

The rating "Best Sports Universities in Europe" reveals the latest potential opportunities of European universities in the field of training specialists for sports and fitness. For example: universities in Barcelona are famous by their football sports programs.