Decathlon continues to grow. Founded in 1976, the sports brand and retailer has also been able to assert itself in recent years, contrary to a challenging environment. Especially under the previous CEO Barbara Martin Coppola, the strategy was to become a multi -specialized sports brand, “specifically for people, society and the planet trade”. In the course of this, there was also a focus on the expansion of circular models, decarbonization measures and the electricity of regenerative energy sources.
Now a phase that aims to strengthen the competitiveness and growth of the company. For this purpose, the Board of Directors of Decathlon, whose chair was recently appointed Julien Leclercq, has decided to appoint Javier López as the new CEO. The company thus replaces Barbara Martin Coppola, who has held this position since 2022. López already looks back on 26 years of experience at Decathlon and had numerous positions within the company in the time. Most recently, he headed Decathlon Germany from 2012 to 2015 before he was responsible for Decathlon Spain from 2015 to 2022. He was then appointed global Chief Value Chain Officer in the group.
“In the past three years we have initiated a significant development of decathlon and have passed from ambitions to acts,” said Coppola. I would like to thank all of our employees whose commitment made all this work possible: We have repositioned the Decathlon brand by redefining the customer experience in the branches and in e-commerce, which now constitutes 20 % of our global sales. We have revised our brand portfolio, closed partnerships with a global range and created new models for the circular economy. I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made. I have full confidence in Javier to keep an increasingly ambitious company in the sense of decathlon. ”
“I feel particularly honored by the trust of Julien and the Board of Directors when taking over my new position and thank you Barbara, with whom I have been working with the Executive Committee in the past three years,” said Javier López. “As a decathlonian for 26 years, I have been proud of the work that we have done over the years to make the advantages of sport accessible around the world.”