Pernambuco and Puntarenas, American Regions of Sport 2025
A Brazilian state of nine million people and a Costa Rican province facing the Pacific, recognised in the 2025 regional cohort.
The 2025 cohort left two regional titles of very different profiles and one shared idea underneath: sport as a policy of territory.
Pernambuco (Brazil), with its capital in Recife and more than nine million inhabitants, became the first Brazilian state recognised as American Region of Sport, after an assessment process with facility inspections across the state. The title rewards a sports policy deployed through schools and athlete-support programmes.
Puntarenas (Costa Rica), the port province of the central Pacific, received the same recognition in a year in which it reinforced its beach-sport vocation: in 2025 it was the main venue of the Central American and Caribbean Beach Games, with more than 1,500 athletes from some thirty countries.
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