Decathlon is a French sporting goods retailer. With over 1500 stores in 49 countries, it is the largest sporting goods retailer in the world. Decathlon started with a store in Lille, France in 1976, founded by Michel Leclercq. It started to expand abroad a decade later, to Germany in 1986, Spain in 1992, Italy in 1998, Portugal, the United Kingdom in 1999, China in 2003, India in 2009, Hong Kong in 2013, Malaysia in 2016, and Southeast Asia in 2012 and South Africa, the Philippines in 2017 and Australia in 2018. The company employs more than 87,000 staff, from 80 different nationalities.
The retailer stocks a wide range of sporting goods, from tennis rackets to advanced scuba diving equipment, usually in large superstores which are sized at an average of 4,000 meters. Decathlon Group also owns over 20 brands, with research and development facilities all over.
