Monaco: land of sport

With the Monaco Grand Prix, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the Herculis Meeting and many other major events, the Principality has established itself over the decades as a capital of world sport.

For more than a century, Monaco has been the stage for some of the biggest sporting events around. The Monte-Carlo tennis tournament was founded in 1887, making it one of the oldest tennis competitions in the world. Today, the Rolex Masters is part of the Masters 1000 series and attracts the world’s best players on clay.

Monaco has also made its mark in team sports. Crowned French champions eight times, AS Monaco reached the Champions League final in 2004 and the semi-final in 2017. The Monegasque football club has trained Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet and Kylian Mbappé, among others.

Over the last few years, the Roca Team has also made a name for itself in European basketball, recruiting several of the sport’s stars (for example coach Saša Obradović, a European and world champion).

A land of sport, the Principality is home to sporting bodies such as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF), the Association of Tennis Professionals (Europe Zone), the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM, the world governing body for all powerboating activities) and the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon (the world governing body for pentathlon and other multi-discipline sports). The country hosts the Sportel convention, which brings together decision-makers from the worlds of media and sport, and the UEFA draw.

Numerous sporting champions have also chosen to settle in Monaco, including tennis players Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov and the Zverev brothers, and cyclists Chris Froome and Peter Sagan. The Principality is also home to more racing drivers than anywhere else, with residents including Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and, naturally, Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc.