Do you need a medical certificate to practice a sport?

Is it mandatory to provide a medical certificate to practice a sport?

The obligation to provide a medical certificate depends on how you practice this sport:

• within a club affiliated to a sports federation or not (commercial or associative structure);
• alone or in a school setting.

Your club or federation may ask you to provide a medical certificate attesting to the absence of contraindications to the practice of the sport or discipline concerned.

This is not a legal obligation, but a condition related to the club or federation's rules. The frequency of presentation of the certificate is provided for in the internal regulations of this structure.

The regulations differ depending on whether you are an adult or a minor.

For example, the tennis federation does not require a medical certificate a contrario from the football, horse riding, judo and basketball federations where a certificate valid for 3 years is requested.

Which sports disciplines are still required to have a medical certificate?

The presentation of the medical certificate of non-contraindication to the practice of sport remains mandatory for the following sports disciplines with particular constraints:

• underwater diving, including underground diving;
• boxing and other combat sport, practiced in competition, which may result in a knockout;
• activity with a firearm or air gun (shooting, biathlon);
• sport with a land motor vehicle, except karting and radio-guided car modeling;
• mononautical disciplines (motor boat, hovercraft...).