Vatican City, as the world's smallest independent state, does not typically participate in international sporting events or competitions as a separate entity.

It does not have its own national sports teams or athletes representing the Vatican in major events like the Olympics or FIFA World Cup. However, the Vatican does promote and support sports within its community, and in recent years has begun sending small teams to international events such as the Mediterranean Games.

Before The Vatican will be able to participate in the Olympic Games, they will need to set up a National Olympic Committee, which in turn requires recognised national federations in at least five Olympic sports. So far they have three: Vatican Cycling was admitted to the International Cycling Union in September 2021, Vatican Taekwondo joined World Taekwondo that November, and Vatican Padel joined the International Padel Federation in 2022.

The Vatican has its own sports association called "Athletica Vaticana" or Vatican Athletics, founded on 10 January 2019 with around 60 members and recognised by the Italian athletics federation. It was the first sports body ever to be granted legal status inside the Vatican. Its members are priests, nuns, seminarians, Swiss Guards, museum staff and other employees of the Vatican community, who take part in friendly matches, running events and various sports activities. Their participation is often symbolic and represents the Vatican's support for the positive values of sports, such as unity, fair play, and healthy competition.

The Vatican made its multi-sport debut at the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Oran, Algeria, where runner Sara Carnicelli competed in an unofficial, non-scoring capacity. At the 2026 Games in Taranto, Italy, the Vatican took part as a full participating nation for the first time, sending four athletes: Fabrizio Peloni and Tiziano Lucarelli in the men's padel doubles, Daniele Fontana in épée fencing and Emiliano Morbidelli in cycling. Pope Leo XIV received the team before the Games, calling sport a "prophecy of peace and fraternity".

The Vatican occasionally hosts sporting events and friendly matches within its territory. These events are often organized to promote dialogue, peace, and solidarity among different religious communities or to raise awareness for charitable causes.

There is a representative men's and women's Vatican football (soccer) team that play friendly matches and in unofficial tournaments. The Vatican City Championship, founded in 1972, is a local football tournament comprising teams of employees from the various Vatican departments, from which the representative teams are selected. The Vatican City national football team played its first match in 1985, a 3–0 victory against a team of Austrian journalists, and its first official fixture, a draw, against San Marino. As the Vatican has no pitch of its own, matches are played at Campo Pio XI in Rome.

While the Vatican City's involvement in international sporting events is limited, it emphasizes the importance of sportsmanship and the positive role of sports within its community.

Tiber River, RomeThe Tiber River, where many Vatican staff go for a morning run

Popular sports and activities of The Vatican

  • Athletics, soccer, cycling, padel, taekwondo, cricket, tennis

The Vatican Sporting Success

  • The first podium finish of Vatican Athletics was in the Messina Marathon, just four days after the association was founded. A silver medal was won by Don Vincenzo Puccio, a Sicilian parish priest, in 2 hours 31 minutes 53 seconds on 14 January 2019.
  • Runner Sara Carnicelli took bronze at the 2022 Championships of the Small States of Europe, but under European Athletics rules was unable to keep the medal and received an honorary one instead.
  • Hurdler Giuseppe Zaparatta won bronze at the 2024 Championships of the Small States of Europe in Gibraltar.

The Vatican City Sports Trivia

  • Champion Italian cyclist Gino Bartali was a very religious man and made his devotions public. In return, he became The Vatican’s favorite sportsman and was personally blessed by three popes.
  • Vatican Athletics, officially Athletica Vaticana in Latin, is the Vatican's first official sports team.
  • The International Cycling Union was the first Olympic sports federation to admit Vatican Athletics to its ranks in 2021. Not long after, the Vatican taekwondo association became a member of World Taekwondo, and padel followed in 2022. Five such memberships are needed before a National Olympic Committee can be formed.
  • Pope John Paul II was reportedly a soccer goalkeeper in his youth in Poland.
  • Pope Leo XIV, elected in May 2025, may be the most sporting pope of modern times. He plays tennis and swims regularly, follows the Chicago White Sox, and was presented with a racket by Jannik Sinner. For the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics he issued a message titled "Life in Abundance", warning against doping, match-fixing and what he called the "dictatorship of performance".
  • The Vatican has a cricket team. St Peter's Cricket Club, also known as the Vatican XI, was formed in 2013 at the suggestion of the Australian ambassador to the Holy See, and plays interfaith fixtures at home and on tour.

The Vatican City at major events

  • In 2022, one athlete represented the Vatican City at the Mediterranean Games in Algeria, though in a non-scoring manner.
  • At the 2026 Mediterranean Games in Taranto, Italy, four Vatican athletes competed as a full participating nation for the first time.
  • Athletica Vaticana has sent teams to the Championships of the Small States of Europe, winning bronze medals in 2022 and again in 2024 at Gibraltar.
  • The Games of the Small States of Europe remain closed to the Vatican, as entry to those Games requires a National Olympic Committee.

Sporting Facilities in The Vatican

There is very little room for sport inside the Vatican walls. The state has a padel court, a small gymnasium reserved for the Swiss Guard, and the St Joseph Sports Centre with its swimming pool, used mainly for summer camps; the old clay tennis courts were dismantled some years ago. The Vatican Gardens serve as the running circuit for staff. Almost everything else happens outside: the football teams play at Campo Pio XI in Rome, and Athletica Vaticana's runners train with Roman clubs on the city's tracks and in its parks. The sporting facilities of Rome are readily available if needed.