Decathlon

Founded by Michel Leclercq in 1976, Decathlon started with a store in Lille, France. Its holding company was formerly known as Oxylane.

The company expanded abroad to Germany in 1986, Spain in 1992, Italy in 1993, Belgium in 1997, Portugal, the United Kingdom in 1999, Brazil in 2001, mainland China in 2003, Russia in 2006, India and Romania in 2009, Turkey and Czech Republic in 2010, Sweden in 2011, Taiwan and Lebanon in 2012, Hong Kong in 2013, Malaysia, Singapore, Slovenia and Mexico in 2016, South Africa, Philippines, Tunisia and Indonesia and Israel in 2017; in South Korea, and Australia in 2018, and Canada and Serbia in 2019.

In September 2019, Decathlon reached an agreement with Alltricks, an online retailer of accessories for cyclists and runners.

In 2022 Decathlon closed their retail store presence in the United States.

In 2023, Decathlon opened a training centre in Lille. By October 2023, Decathlon had nine training centres in partnership with Afpa Entreprises, an association for the professional training of adults, and three centres of its own on its premises.

In November 2023, Decathlon acquired Bergfreunde, an online specialist retailer for mountain sports, climbing, and outdoor equipment. Decathlon is increasing its investments to boost production and expand its retail presence in India, from where it presently exports around 65% of its output to international markets, according to Global CEO Barbara Martin Coppola.

In July 2024, Decathlon reported its investment Recyc'Elit, a start-up specialized in the chemical recycling of polyester textiles and complex PET plastics. This year it was also announced that Decathlon is partnered CNES and Spartan Space to develop an intravehicular spacesuit. In November 2025, Decathlon unveiled its first spacesuit for European astronauts to wear aboard the International Space Station.

In April 2025, Decathlon initiated a process to sell a 30% stake of its China business, with its China business being valued at over $1 billion.

Product brands

Decathlon is vertically integrated, designing and developing its own products and marketing under its more than 85 brands, with each sport, and often sub-sports and sports groups, having their own. In March 2024, the company launched a simplified brand portfolio consisting of category specialist brands and expert brands.

Locations

As of June 2026, Decathlon operated 1,902 stores worldwide in nearly 1,000 cities and 82 countries.

Online delivery has been introduced in Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong SAR, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mainland China, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Philippines, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and recently, Cambodia, Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Kosovo.

In August 2026, Decathlon announced the closure of its Cheltenham store in Regent Arcade. The 20,000-square-foot store, which opened in November 2021 as the company's first store in Gloucestershire, was scheduled to close on 29 August 2026.

Controversies

Human rights issues and use of forced labour

Decathlon has been under scrutiny after reports indicate that the company's suppliers in Sri Lanka's free trade zones violate the country's labour laws.

Since 2003, Decathlon has adopted a social charter of the Social and Environmental Responsibility World Forum regarding human rights, health and safety, respect for the environment, corruption and management and communication. Decathlon has, however, declined to disclose the names of its suppliers.

In February 2025, working with the France 2 show Cash Investigation, French non-governmental organization Disclose revealed that Qingdao Jifa Group, a Chinese textile manufacturer which supplies clothing to Decathlon, had possibly sourced cotton from Xinjiang, and had definitely taken government subsidies to "train ethnic minorities." This wording has been associated with state-sponsored forced labor programs targeting the region's Uyghur minority.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, many international, particularly Western companies, pulled out of Russia. Decathlon has been criticized for not announcing any scaling down of its operations. On 29 March, Decathlon announced that it has ceased its operations and suspended the operation of all its stores in Russia. However, reports in mid-June indicated that the stores are still in operation and may be temporally closed by the end of the month until it becomes possible to renew supplies.

In May 2023, it became known that the Turkish company FLO Retailing and the Lebanese Azadea Group were negotiating the purchase of the Russian Decathlon. FLO Retailing has previously bought the Russian business of the Reebok chain. As a result, the Russian government approved the sale of Decathlon to the Russian company ARM, which previously acquired the brand of the Spanish retailer Mango on a franchise basis. ARM promised to reopen all 35 Decathlon stores in Russia. In December 2023, Decathlon confirmed that they are supplying a limited quantity of their products to ARM for a limited time period as part of the company's disengagement agreement in Russia in response to a report that the company continued to supply their products to Russia through shell companies.