Navarre

Navarre is a single-province chartered community in northern Spain, with its capital in Pamplona, made up of 272 municipalities and home to around 678,000 inhabitants (INE, 2024). Its territory descends from the Pyrenean Montaña in the north, through the Zona Media, to the Ribera of the Ebro in the south, where the steppe lands of the Bardenas Reales stretch out. Heir to the old Kingdom of Pamplona and Navarre, conquered by Ferdinand the Catholic in 1512, it retains its own foral regime with fiscal autonomy. The Way of St James crosses it after entering at Roncesvalles, and its capital is known worldwide for the San Fermín festival, popularised by Ernest Hemingway.

In sport, its great reference is CA Osasuna, founded in Pamplona in 1920, whose name means 'health' in Basque; the club plays at El Sadar stadium, with more than 23,000 seats, and reached the Copa del Rey final in 2005 and 2023. Navarre is also the homeland of Miguel Induráin, born in Villava, who won five consecutive editions of the Tour de France between 1991 and 1995, two Giri d'Italia and Olympic time-trial gold in Atlanta 1996. The variety of its landscape, from the Pyrenees to the Bardenas, offers a wide stage for outdoor sport.

Navarre has been designated European Region of Sport 2027. In May 2026 an ACES Europe evaluation committee visited the community and examined its bid with a focus on health, during a visit in which the regional president, María Chivite, highlighted the social value of sport. The title, of regional scope, will add it in 2027 to the Spanish representation of the ACES network, in which neighbouring Bizkaia holds the same recognition in 2026.