The Social Security will allow from the next December 25, 2026 to recover for retirement purposes certain professional periods that until now were considered contribution gaps. This is not a measure open to all workers, but a regularization specifically aimed at former professional athletes who practiced in Spain when their activity was already considered labor, but before their group could contribute to the General Regime. The change is included in the Royal Decree 739/2026, published in the BOE on September 25, and its entry into force will occur exactly three months later.
The objective is to correct a historical anomaly. Since 1980 professional athletes had recognized a special labor relationship, but their effective incorporation into Social Security occurred gradually and, for some sports, took more than two decades. During those years they could work professionally and receive remuneration without the necessary regulatory mechanism to contribute like the rest of the workers. Those periods did not count later to determine if they reached the necessary years to retire nor to calculate the amount of their pension.
Who will be able to recover those years of contribution
The rule applies to those who resided in Spain and regularly developed a professional sports activity here, as long as they had a contract corresponding to the special labor relationship of professional athletes. The recoverable period begins on March 15, 1980 and ends on the date when the corresponding sports group was incorporated into the General Regime of Social Security.
This means that the dates change according to the discipline. The professional cyclists were included in the General Regime on February 1, 1992, so they can credit, in their case, periods between March 1980 and that date. For professional basketball players, the limit is August 1, 1993; for handball, it is January 1, 1998. The rest of the professional athletes who had not yet been incorporated were integrated generally from June 1, 2003.
There is an express exception: professional footballers cannot take advantage of this royal decree, because they have a different specific regulation. Periods that coincide with other months or years for which the person has already contributed to Social Security cannot be added either. Therefore, it is not about duplicating contributions, but about exclusively covering the gaps generated by that lack of regulatory integration.
What needs to be accredited for those years to count
The fundamental condition is to be able to demonstrate that one really worked as a professional athlete during the claimed period. The regulation establishes that a certificate issued by the club or sports entity where the activity was carried out must be provided, following the model included in the royal decree itself. The document must certify both the professional status and the dates during which the employment relationship was maintained.
What happens if the club disappeared decades ago? The regulation precisely contemplates that possibility. When the entity has ceased its activity or no longer retains the necessary documentation, it may be the corresponding sports federation that issues the certificate, as long as it has sufficient information to certify those periods. The BOE includes two different models: one for clubs and entities and another for federations.
The application must be submitted to the National Institute of Social Security (INSS), in person or electronically, accompanied by that certification. It can be done when applying for the retirement pension for the first time or, if the person is already retired, through a request for a review of the recognized pension.
It can help reach the 15 years necessary to retire
One of the most important effects is that those years can be used to meet the minimum contribution period required to access a contributory retirement pension. General legislation requires, in general terms, at least 15 years of contributions, with the additional conditions provided by Social Security. Until now, a former athlete could fall below that minimum because several years of their professional career simply did not appear as contributed.
Since December, those recognized periods may count to determine the right to the pension, to calculate its regulatory base, to establish the applicable ordinary retirement age, and to determine the percentage that corresponds on that base. The rule sets, however, an evident limit: the sum of the years effectively contributed and the recovered ones can never generate a pension higher than 100% of the regulatory base.
An former athlete who, for example, has accredited 13 years of ordinary contributions and manages to have another two years of professional activity from that stage recognized could use those periods to reach the minimum of 15 years, as long as they meet the rest of the requirements needed to retire.
Those who are already retired may also request it
The reform is not limited to those who have not yet requested retirement. Current pensioners may also request that their benefit be reviewed if they developed professional activity within the periods contemplated by the new rule. In those cases, the recovered years will be used to recalculate the percentage applied to the regulatory base that was already recognized when the pension was granted.
The review can never be used to reduce an existing pension. If the new calculation is more favorable, the amount may be increased; if it does not represent any improvement, the previous percentage will be maintained. The Ministry of Inclusion explains that the reform seeks precisely to benefit both former athletes who are still active and those who already have the status of pensioners.
The athlete will not have to pay the overdue contributions
Another important particularity is who assumes the economic cost of incorporating those years. It will not be the former athlete who has to pay the corresponding fees from previous decades. The National Institute of Social Security will calculate the so-called cost capital derived from the increase in the pension and it will be the Superior Council of Sports (CSD)who will make the corresponding payment to Social Security.
For the recovered months, the minimum contribution bases existing then for workers over 18 years old in the General Regime will be used, when applicable. If the person already meets the 15 necessary years on their own, the cost of the improvement that those new periods generate on their pension will be calculated. If they need the recovered years to precisely reach that minimum, the regulations include specific rules to calculate the part of the pension that must be financed by the CSD.
In the case of those who are already retired, the improvement will not take effect until the Higher Sports Council has deposited that capital cost, although the regulation subsequently provides for the payment of the corresponding differences.
Why they went without contributing for so many years
The origin of the problem lies in the progressive integration of athletes into Social Security. The Workers' Statute recognized in 1980 their special labor relationship, but not all sports entered the system immediately. Cyclists had to wait until 1992, basketball players until 1993, handball players until 1998, and the process did not end for the entire group of professional athletes until 2003.
During that interval, many athletes developed a paid professional career, but those years could not generate contributions due to a lack of regulation that allowed it. The Government itself acknowledges that the consequence has been twofold: some people have had difficulties completing the minimum period necessary to obtain a contributory pension, and others have ended up receiving a lower retirement because part of their professional life was not taken into account.
What exactly changes on December 25
From that date, therefore, there will not be a general way to "buy" retirement years or to recover any period in which a person did not work or contribute. The reform has a very specific scope: former professional athletes who worked between March 15, 1980, and the date when their group effectively entered the General Regime.
Whoever believes they are in that situation will first have to locate the documentation that certifies their activity and request from the club, entity, or, in certain circumstances, sports federation the corresponding certificate. Afterwards, they must ask the INSS to recognize those periods, either when processing their retirement or by requesting the review of an already granted pension. The change may allow some former athletes to reach for the first time the necessary years to retire and others to increase a pension that until now was calculated ignoring part of their professional career.