Sport in Azerbaijan has ancient roots, and even now, both traditional and modern sports are still practiced. Freestyle wrestling has been traditionally regarded as Azerbaijan's national sport and today, the most popular sports in Azerbaijan are combat sportss, football and chess. Other popular sports are gymnastics, judo, futsal, weightlifting, and boxing. Azerbaijan's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Water sports are practiced on the Caspian Sea and in inland waters. Competitively, Azerbaijan has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Azerbaijan is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), European Athletics Association (EAA), International Olympic Committee (IOC), among many others. It has also hosted the first European Games and 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games.
The 1st European Games, also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015, were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the European Olympic Committees. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 12 to 28 June 2015, and featured almost 6,000 athletes from 50 countries competing in 30 sports, including 15 summer Olympic and 2 non-Olympic sports.
Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu is a Turkish world-champion freestyle wrestler. She won the gold medals at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships, and at the 2024 European Wrestling Championships. She also won one of the bronze medals in the women's 68 kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
Alina Hrushyna-Akobiia is a Ukrainian freestyle wrestler. She won one of the bronze medals in the 57 kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She is a four-time medalist, including two gold medals, at the European Wrestling Championships. Hrushyna represented Ukraine at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
Andreea Beatrice Ana is a Romanian freestyle wrestler. She is a five-time medalist, including three gold medals, at the European Wrestling Championships. She is the first female wrestler representing Romania to win a gold medal at the European Wrestling Championships. In 2021, Ana became under-23 world champion in the 55 kg event at the U23 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She represented Romania at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
Erik Arushanian is a Ukrainian freestyle wrestler of Armenian descent who competes at 65 kilograms. Arushanian claimed a bronze medal from the 2020 European Championships and is the 2021 U23 European Continental champion. In 2019, he became the Junior World Champion at 70 kilos, after claiming a bronze medal from the Junior World Championships in 2018.
Mihai Radu Mihuț is a Romanian Greco-Roman wrestler. He is a gold medalist at the European Wrestling Championships.
Aiperi Medet Kyzy is a Kyrgyzstani freestyle wrestler. She won the silver medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She also represented Kyrgyzstan at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Dzianis Uladzimiravich Khramiankou is a Belarusian freestyle wrestler.
The 2021 European Wrestling Championships was held from 19 to 25 April 2021 in Warsaw, Poland. 428 athletes from 36 countries competed for continental gold at the European Championship. There were 168 Greco-Roman tournament entries, 155 freestyle competitors and 105 women's wrestlers.
Turan Bayramov is an Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler who competes at 70 kilograms, and 74 kilograms. Bayramov claimed a silver medal from the 2021 European Championships (70kg), was the 2019 U23 World Champion and the 2018 Cadet World and Youth Olympic Champion, as well as a medalist at multiple high level age-group competitions.
Tetiana Rizhko is a Ukrainian freestyle wrestler. She is a four-time medalist, including gold, at the European Wrestling Championships. She won the gold medal in her event at the 2020 Individual Wrestling World Cup held in Belgrade, Serbia. Rizhko represented Ukraine at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
Zeynep Yetgil is a Turkish freestyle wrestler competing in the 53 kg division. She is a member of Istanbul BB SK.
Aliabbas Rzazade is an Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler competing in the 57 kg division. He won the gold medal in the 57 kg event at the 2023 European Wrestling Championships held in Zagreb, Croatia.
The 2022 World Wrestling Championships was the 17th edition of the World Wrestling Championships of combined events and was held between 10 and 18 September 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. After Frank Chamizo, wrestling for Italy in the men's freestyle 74 kg category, was found to be doping, the bronze medal was given to Soner Demirtaş of Turkey.
The 2022 U23 World Wrestling Championships was the fifth edition of the U23 World Wrestling Championships of combined events and it was held from 17 to 23 October 2022 in Pontevedra, Spain.
Enrica Rinaldi is an Italian freestyle wrestler. She won one of the bronze medals in the women's 76 kg event at the 2022 European Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary. A few months later, she won the silver medal in the 76 kg event at the 2022 Mediterranean Games held in Oran, Algeria.
The wrestling competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris were held from 5 to 11 August at Grand Palais Éphémère in Champ de Mars. 288 wrestlers competed across 18 weight categories at these Games. The men wrestled against each other in both freestyle and Greco-Roman events, whereas the women only participated in the freestyle wrestling, with 18 gold medals awarded. Wrestling has been contested at every modern Summer Olympic Games, except Paris 1900.
The 2023 European U23 Wrestling Championships was the 8th edition of the European U23 Wrestling Championships of combined events, and it was held from 13 to 19 March in Bucharest, Romania.
The 2024 European U17 & U20 Wrestling Championships is the 25th edition of European Cadets Wrestling Championship and 34th edition of European Juniors Wrestling Championships of combined events, and it will take place from 24 June to 7 July in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Baku, Azerbaijan 
Ukraine 
