Main geographical characteristics of competitive sports in Slovenia

The geographical aspects of sport are rarely addressed, even though sport is an important element of the landscape and society. The aim of this research was to analyze the spatial distribution of competitive sport in Slovenia. This was done by analyzing registered athletes by statistical regions and municipalities, which involved the use of GIS and quantitative methods. We found that Slovenia is a relatively diverse country from a sporting-spatial perspective. Among statistical regions, Upper Carniola in the northwest has the highest number of registered athletes in relation to the population (3.7%), while Southeast Slovenia has the lowest (2.1%). Less than a third of sports federations show a clustered distribution of registered athletes, while municipalities with a higher degree of centrality of their center have more registered athletes per capita and a higher diversity of sectoral sports associations. The study contributes to the knowledge of the socio-cultural diversity of the country and raises a number of questions about the determinants of the distribution of sports disciplines. Temeljne geografske značilnosti tekmovalnega športa v Sloveniji Geografski vidiki športa so redko obravnavani, čeprav je šport pomembna prvina pokrajine in ima velik družbeni pomen. Namen raziskave je bil analizirati prostorsko razporeditev tekmovalnega športa v Sloveniji. To smo storili z analizo registriranih športnikov po statističnih regijah in občinah, ki je vključevala uporabo GIS-ov in kvantitativne metode. Ugotovili smo, da je Slovenija s prostorsko-športnega vidika razmeroma raznolika država. Med statističnimi regijami ima največ registriranih športnikov glede na število prebivalcev gorenjska (3,7 %), najmanj pa jugovzhodna Slovenija (2,1 %). Slaba tretjina športnih zvez kaže gručasto razporeditev registriranih športnikov, občine z višjo stopnjo centralnosti svojega središča pa imajo več registriranih športnikov na prebivalca in večjo raznolikost športnih zvez. Raziskava prispeva k poznavanju družbeno-kulturne raznolikosti države in odpira številna vprašanja o dejavnikih razporeditve športnih panog.