Bergamo tops the Sportsmanship Index 2024

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Bergamo has been crowned queen of Italian sport by the Sole 24 Ore 2024 sportsmanship index, now in its 18th edition. In a photo finish, Bergamo overtook Trento, which had been at the top for the last two years, thus becoming the second Lombardy province (after Varese in 2021) to top the ranking. Driving Bergamo's result, which has been firmly in the top ten since 2019, in addition to a series of top placings, are Atalanta's achievements above all: success in the Europa League, fourth place in the league and the final reached in the Coppa Italia. These allowed Bergamo to reach first place in both the professional football indicator and the team sports super-indicator. Satisfaction also came, however, from the other thematic areas into which the Index is divided: third place for the 'structure' of the sports movement, fourth for individual sports, and twentieth for the intertwining of sport and society. In addition, out of 35 basic parameters, Bergamo boasts nine placements in the top ten.

The sportsmanship index measures the quality and diffusion of sport at a provincial level and for the 2024 edition was based on 35 indicators divided into four categories: structure and organisation of the sports system (registered members, sports promotion bodies, sports events, practicability of sport, investments and results in the Olympic and Paralympic Games); team sports; individual disciplines; and the relations of sport with the economy (businesses, tourism, media), and the social reality (children, women, amateurs). In detail, for each indicator and category, the ranking of the 107 provinces is drawn up, relating the data to the population aged 6 to 75; taking into account the different 'weight' given to the individual indicators, the final ranking is then defined. The data mostly refer to 2023; for team and winter sports to the 2023/2024 season.

The biggest novelty of the 2024 index was the inclusion of three new indicators, on participation and results in Paris 2024: Men's Olympics (on the podium, in order, Verbania, Genoa and Varese), Women's Olympics (Genoa, Catania and Rome) and Paralympics (Verona, Varese and Bergamo). The indicators - whose 'weight' on the overall total is 15% - consider the participants' province of birth and current residence and society (if in a military team, the previous one). For each presence/race a decreasing score was assigned: from gold to fourth place, from access to a final to participation. Genoa, Brescia, and Rome are among the top ten in both the men's and women's Olympic rankings. The joint ranking sees Genoa in first place, followed by Rome, Brescia, Trento and Varese.

Lombardy also features well in the rankings with other provinces: there are four among the top ten (after Bergamo, Milan fifth, Varese seventh and Brescia tenth), joined just outside the top ten by Cremona (in eleventh place) and Monza and Brianza (twelfth). Milan owes its fifth position above all to its leadership for the presence of media dedicated to sport and its presence on the podium for the rate of sports and 'pro' football. Varese has risen from twelfth to seventh place in a year, confirming its excellence in Paralympic sport: first in terms of facilities and membership, it is only surpassed by Verona for results at the Paris Games. Last in the top ten is Brescia (up from 16th place), with a well-structured and widespread system, which earned it seven medals at the Paris Games: in its province, the town of Roncadelle has become internationally famous, boasting as many as three golds: by Anna Danesi in volleyball, Alice Bellandi in judo and Giovanni De Gennaro in kayaking.