Picture running track

DECATHLON's story: our key dates

DECATHLON is a long story about sports, products, and especially, women and men. Read all about it here!

Picture first Decathlon store in Englos

1976 - DECATHLON's birth

An innovative concept imagined by Michel Leclercq

The first store opened in Englos (in Northern France), bringing all the sports under the same roof.

Decathlon's story - our key dates

1982 - The DECATHLON jingle first appears (along with a warehouse)

- The famous “TULULUTUTU” jingle is composed! “TULULUTUTU” and the slogan “SPORT FOR THE MANY!” are still the same to this day!

The 1st warehouse opens in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (Nord, France). The suppliers no longer directly deliver to stores, with DECATHLON handling the logistics.

Advertissement pciture tarzan on a bike

The hero of our first advertisement: Tarzan.

Picture bike frame

1986: A busy year!

The creation of “DECATHLON Production” to design and manufacture our DECATHLON signature branded products. The bike frame is one of the first articles manufactured.

Right next to it: visual of the 1st frame of the Challenger bike by DECATHLON.

Picture German store in Dortmund

Decathlon exports itself!

1st Decathlon store opens outside France at Dortmund (Germany).

Picture logistics warehouse

Logistics and second-hand

Logistics continues its development in France. An 8,000 sqm warehouse opens in Vitrolle (in Southern France).

We create the TROCATHLON, allowing our customers to buy and sell to each other second-hand equipment.

Picture of Decathlon training academy

1988

We create Decathlon's Training Academy for training teams in-house.

1992

DECATHLON designs its first packaging in line with an eco-designed approach.

Decathlon store alps

1993

5,000 TEAMMATES and 100 STORES!

DECATHLON crosses the French Alps and opens in Milan (Italy).

• Shift from 100% manual logistics to mechanised logistics.

Decathlon store entrance
Decathlon campus store

1994

DECATHLON Campus opens in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, (Northern France).

1996

TRIBORD (water sports) and QUECHUA (mountain sports) see the light of day. These are DECATHLON's first brands.

• We establish an industrial management department to optimise production processes.

• Porte des Alpes store No 121 opens its doors in Lyon (France). It becomes in 2011 our biggest French store with 12,800 sq. m surface area.

Picture sports lab

1997

We create DECATHLON SportsLab. Its assignment: analyse the human body's movements to design innovative technical products that are even more comfortable!

• The logistics goes international! 1st warehouse opens outside France, in Martorell (Spain).

• Store No 171 opens in Trans-en-Provence (Var, France). It was the smallest DECATHLON store with an 898 sq. m surface area before being modernised and extended in 2018.

Picture BTWIN bike

1999

• Launched B’Twin 5, an excellent balance between an MTB and a city bike. Its slogan: “At ease just as much everywhere as everywhere”.

Picture Quechua store

Opening of the first Quechua site

A site entirely dedicated to mountain sports. The design team moved to Domancy (Haute-Savoie, France).

Picture Decathlon village

2001

25,000 Teammates and 300 stores!

• Official opening of the first DECATHLON Village, at Bouc-Bel-Air (Bouches-du-Rhône, France).

• New century, new stores. DECATHLON opens in Brazil in Sao Paulo.

Picture audits of suppliers

2003

• 1st store in China opens in Shanghai.

• We set up “winning teammates” survey: an in-house indicator assessing teammates' satisfaction.

Picture Hendaye watersport center
Picture Quechua tent

2005

• DECATHLON faces the cold and opens its first store in Moscow (Russia).

• We establish the DECATHLON Foundation. Teammates create a foundation supporting sports projects helping the inclusion of people in vulnerable situations.

• The first DECATHLON franchise store opens in Guadeloupe (Caribbean).

• New small-format store concept. Nowadays renamed DECATHLON Essentiel, the first store, then called TOBOGGAN, opened in Bron (Rhône, France).


• QUECHUA launches the famous “2 Seconds” pop-up tents, proving to be a success and symbolising DECATHLON's approach to innovation.

Tents prototypes

✅ The first prototypes of Quechua's 2 seconds pop-up tents date back to 2004.

2006

• We launched koodza.fr, the forerunner to decathlon.fr (e-commerce website).

• Arrival in store of the first products with an eco-design approach.

• DECATHLON becomes a sustainable development pioneer in retail parks, in France. Store No 450 in Saint-Quentin (Aisne, France), is the first to adopt an environmental approach: rainwater management, the introduction of natural light, etc.

Picture Domyos center

2008

• koodza.fr becomes decathlon.com. Our customers can reserve their items online!

• We establish the environmental leader network in our brands and industrial processes.

• DOMYOS, the brand dedicated to indoor fitness sports, sets its teams up in the Domyos Centre, at Marcq-en-Baroeul, in Northern France (photo).

Picture Cestas design center

• A design centre and store dedicated to shooting, fishing and archery opens in Cestas (Gironde, France).

Inesis golf park design center
Btwin village center

2010

• 45 000 TEAMMATES and 600 STORES!

• We establish the B’Twin Village in Lille (Northern, France), a new cycling park for bike enthusiasts.

We opened a new position dedicated to Human Responsibility in Production.

Environmental labelling picture

2013

• DECATHLON's 5 key commitments supporting sustainable development are written.

• We put in place an audit of building structures in Bangladesh.

• We conduct DECATHLON's first company-wide carbon footprint assessment.

Picture Montain store Sallanches

2014

• Launch Click & Collect, which becomes our customers preferred delivery option in 2015.

We conduct first generalised on-site water treatment audits at our suppliers.

• The QUECHUA teams move to a unique setting: 10,000 sq. m where designers and sports users can directly exchange with each other. New: the site is designed in line with an environmentally friendly approach.

Picture Kipstadium center

2015

• decathlon.fr website achieves 145 million visits.

• The Kiosk Plus is installed in the store. And allows the customer to access 100% of the internet product offer.

• Kexuedadao (China) hosts the 1000th DECATHLON store.

• Kipstadium opens in Tourcoing (Nord, France). Team sports enthusiasts get their playground

2016

• DECATHLON celebrates its 40th birthday! And creates a multitude of new brands better meeting the needs of its sports users.

• Sustainable development integrates the company's strategic vision. 

Decathlon's story - our key dates

2024

1749 shops worldwide,
100,701 team-mates
... and DECATHLON has a new logo!

Picture of children smiling

DECATHLON Foundation: “Sport has so much to give us"

The DECATHLON foundation is to make the pleasure and benefits of sport permanently accessible to children and adults in fragile situations.

Picture of people hiking in the moutains

Our magazine Sustainability

Plastic pollution in the oceans, wood manufacturing, the notion of sustainability... Sustainable development is indeed the business of many subjects!

Picture of a DECATHLON store

Our story

What is the story of DECATHLON? The key dates? who are the founders? How was DECATHLON born? the stages of DECATHLON communication?

Picture of teammates at Decathlon

Teammates : rock solid team spirit

Whatever their job, wherever they work, our teammates are part of the same team

Picture of herbs

Our environmental challenges

Biodiversity, climate and plastic pollution in the ocean: 3 issues that DECATHLON are working on in particular. Why these? How?

group of person with a dog

Passion sports and sports passion

Quechua, Tribord, and all the others... Why do we refer to them as passion sports? What is the list of sports at DECATHLON? DECATHLON's head offices?