On December 11, 2025, Fitness Park inaugurated its 400th club in the Barcelona suburbs. Less than two years after crossing the 300-club mark in France and internationally, the group has added 100 clubs to its network. And it's not stopping there: the 2026 plan calls for 100 new openings, including entries into two new strategic countries.
For fitness club operators in France and across Europe, this deployment isn't just a sector milestone. It's a strong signal about the direction the global fitness club market is heading.
Key Takeaways
- 400th club inaugurated in December 2025, 100 openings planned for 2026
- Planned entry into Italy and Belgium, adding to France, Spain, and Portugal
- 280 million euros raised from Carlyle fund in 2025 to finance expansion
- Over 1.4 million members across 4 countries
- Strategic pivot in 2026: from member acquisition to retention and per-member value maximization
The Funding That Changes the Scale
In 2025, Fitness Park closed a strategic funding round of 280 million euros from the Carlyle fund. That capital is what enables 2026's acceleration. The funds are directed at three priorities: franchise network development, growth operation support, and member offering consolidation.
Carlyle's presence in the capital also changes the nature of the business. Fitness Park is entering a financial maturity phase that demands more precise metrics: revenue per club, revenue per member, member acquisition cost, retention rate by format. For existing franchisees and franchise candidates alike, this governance evolution is worth factoring into any decision.
International Expansion Strategy: Controlled by Design
Fitness Park doesn't deploy clubs opportunistically. The group has built a master franchise model that allows local operators to adapt the Fitness Park concept to their market's specifics while maintaining homogeneity in the member experience. This model drove rapid expansion in Spain and Portugal, and it's what will be applied to Italy and Belgium in 2026.
For France, the group's home market, expansion continues too. Participation at Franchise Expo Paris 2026 in March confirmed that franchisee recruitment remains an active priority. Openings in regional cities and mid-sized markets still represent unsaturated potential.
2026: The Pivot From Growth to Retention
After years of growth driven by aggressive member acquisition and heavy Gen Z investment in 2025, the model is evolving. 2026 isn't the year of recruiting at any cost: it's the year of retention, loyalty, and per-member value maximization.
This pivot aligns with global market trends. Industry data for 2026 shows that top-performing clubs retain members for an average of 23.5 months, versus 6 months for clubs without structured onboarding programs. The revenue difference over a member's lifetime is massive.
For Fitness Park, with 1.4 million members across 4 countries, improving the retention rate by a few percentage points represents millions of euros in additional revenue without opening a single new club. It's arithmetic that every operator should apply to their own network.
What This Means for Independent Operators
Fitness Park's expansion to 100 clubs per year in 2026 has two direct implications for independent clubs and small networks.
Local Competitive Pressure Increases With 100 new openings, the probability of a Fitness Park opening in your catchment area is growing. Their pricing, floor space, and technology infrastructure are designed to capture the entry and mid-range segment. If you operate in this segment without a strong distinctive positioning, the differentiation between low-cost and premium models is urgent.
Fitness Market Confirmed as a Spending Priority A fund like Carlyle entering at 280 million euros isn't speculative. It's a bet based on solid consumption data. What Carlyle sees in Fitness Park is a market where demand is durable and margins are recoverable with an optimized operating model. That thesis benefits the whole fitness ecosystem, independents included.
What This Means For You
Whether you're a Fitness Park franchisee, an independent operator, or a franchise candidate, the numbers from this deployment give you a clear reference frame.
The European fitness market is in active consolidation. Operators with solid financial infrastructure, a replicable model, and advanced retention strategies will accelerate. Others will need to choose: differentiate enough to avoid head-on competition, or join an established network's ecosystem.
One thing is certain: 2026 rewards clubs that have a clear answer to the question "why does a member stay with me instead of going somewhere else?"
Sources: Observatoire de la Franchise, Franchise Magazine, Refrance.fr, Fitness Challenges, Toute la Franchise