On August 31, 2026, Decathlon said it is negotiating a 50% stake in Sport 2000 France, the central company that handles buying, logistics and marketing for the Sport 2000 network. A letter of intent has been signed with Céraclès Coopérative, the retailers’ cooperative behind Sport 2000. The price was not disclosed.
The deal could close during 2027, subject to approval by France’s competition authority, Decathlon France chief executive Bastien Grandgeorge told AFP.
Two very different networks
Sport 2000 has more than twice as many stores as Decathlon in France. Decathlon sells six times as much.
| France, 2025 | Decathlon | Sport 2000 |
|---|---|---|
| Stores | 324 | 732 |
| Revenue | €4.84bn | €788m |
| Revenue per store (Hopone calculation) | about €14.9m | about €1.1m |
On these figures, the average Decathlon store in France generates almost 14 times the revenue of the average Sport 2000 store (Hopone calculation).
Sport 2000 is also going the wrong way. Its stores made €788 million in 2025, down 5% from the year before, even though the network had 30 more stores, according to L’Express Franchise. The cooperative’s wider group, which includes banners such as Mondovélo and Ekosport-Rent, made about €800 million across 735 stores, according to Républik Retail.
What Decathlon actually gets
Decathlon is not buying the shops. The 732 Sport 2000 stores stay owned by the independent retailers who run them. The target is the central company, which made €98 million in revenue in 2025 and €215,000 in net profit.
The value is in distribution, not profit:
- Reach. Sport 2000 is strong where Decathlon is nearly absent: rural areas and, above all, ski resorts.
- Shelf space. Decathlon’s own brands could be sold in some Sport 2000 stores, filling a gap in their range, Céraclès president Thierry Lavigne told AFP.
- Services. The two groups are also discussing e-commerce, ski rental and bike repair through Mondovélo.
The competition question
Decathlon, Intersport and Sport 2000 already hold close to 60% of France’s €16 billion sporting goods market, according to L’Express Franchise.
In early 2024, when it cleared Intersport’s takeover of seven Go Sport stores, the competition authority found that Decathlon alone held more than 50% of the national market for large specialist sports stores, excluding online sales. It also relied on Decathlon and Sport 2000 continuing to compete. A 50% stake in its rival’s central company means the authority will have to look at that reasoning again.
Running is where Decathlon goes the other way
While it reaches for Sport 2000’s network, Decathlon is also opening small specialist shops. Its third Decathlon Running store opens in Lille on October 14, 2026, after Bordeaux (May 2025, 160 m²) and Annecy (April 2026, about 180 m²). The shops offer gait analysis and sell Hoka, Brooks, Asics, Saucony, Mizuno and Salomon next to Decathlon’s own Kiprun brand.
The two moves point the same way. Decathlon France’s chief executive describes the goal as moving “from a generalist model to a multi-specialist model.”
Sources
- Républik Retail: Decathlon-Céraclès : 3 enseignements à retenir du projet d’alliance
- L’Express Franchise: Decathlon veut entrer à 50 % dans la centrale Sport 2000 France : ce que ça change pour les 732 magasins de Céraclès
- L’Express Franchise: Decathlon va ouvrir à Lille le 14 octobre 2026 un magasin réservé au running
This article was written with AI by the Hopone Newsroom, from the sources it cites. Figures marked “Hopone calculation” are our own arithmetic from those sources. Nothing here is investment advice.