Grassroots sport, supported through Erasmus+, accounts for 1.8 million jobs across Europe.

Omissions

• The 1.8 million figure is Eurostat's measure of total employment in the sport sector (sport-related occupations/activities, 0.9% of EU employment in 2025), not a count of jobs in 'grassroots sport' specifically.
• No source quantifies jobs created or supported by Erasmus+ sport actions; the programme has a small dedicated sport budget, so presenting the whole sector's employment as supported by Erasmus+ is a misattribution.
• The claim was made without citing a source; the underlying statistic comes from Eurostat labour-force data, published shortly before the session date, so the MEP could have known it.

Sources

• PrimaryEurostat — Statistics Explained: Employment in sportEmployment in sport accounts for 1.8 million people in the EU, 0.9% of total employment. Strong increase in sport employment in 2025 compared with 2024.
• SecondaryPortugalglobal (citing Eurostat)There were 1.8 million people employed in the sport sector across the European Union in 2025, according to new Eurostat data released to ...
• SecondaryEOC EU Office — Eurostat: Sport employment on the riseAccording to the data, in 2025 sport employed 1.8 million people in the EU, accounting for 0.9% of total employment.