It is not the same to feel like a bullfighter having been one, to be an active bullfighter, or to dress up in lights, even if it is only once a year. And this distinction is exhaustively collected by the General Registry of Bullfighting Professionals, managed by the Ministry of Culture.
Every year, around the month of May, the official statistics of the celebrations held throughout the previous season and the professionals who have participated in them are made public.
The existing data as of today corresponds to 2023, but it does not seem to vary excessively compared to 2024 because the number of bullfights, bullfighting shows and bullfights with picadors has risen to 831, only eight less than in the previous campaign. , according to data collected by the Efe agency.
So, according to Culture, in 2023 a total of 10,838 people – 97.3% men and 2.7% women (294) – felt like bullfighters – they were registered in the different sections of the registry -: 825 bullfighters, 345 rejoneadores, 2,949 bullfighters with and without picadors, 2,628 picadors and banderilleros, 3,894 sword porters and 197 comic bullfighters. Of all of them, only 294 women were registered: 8 matadoras, 35 rejoneadoras, 128 novilleras, 5 banderilleras, 1 picador, 15 comic bullfighters and 105 sword girls.
In 2023 three active bullfighters appear, one more than the previous year, but this season none have bullfighted in public in Spain
The number of professionals is reduced to less than half (45.1%) in the section of those registered with the valid license for the year (active bullfighters): 485 matadors, 351 bullfighters with horses, 851 without horses, 133 rejoneadores , 1,382 picadors and banderilleros, 1,631 sword-fighters and 52 comic bullfighters. Among all of them, 114 belong to the female sex: three matadors (only one more than in 2022, Rocío Romero from Córdoba, who took the alternative on September 23, 2023 in Pozoblanco and has announced her presentation in Plaza México on next September 9 March), 10 rejoneadoras, 43 novilleras with and without horses, a banderillera, eight comic bullfighters and 49 mozas de sword.
Compared to the previous year, only the sections of bullfighters (3%), rejoneadores (2.8%) and banderilleros (0.5%) had increased.
And, then, there is reality, the ranking that lists the public performances of professionals.
If applied to the 2024 season, the bullfighters with valid licenses in 2023 (this year’s will be known in May), only 174 have dressed in lights (50 of them for a single afternoon) and 311 have not received any contract. The list of performers is led by Roca Rey, with 70 evenings, and the curious fact is that none of the three alternative women appear on the list.
Of the 351 bullfighters with horses, only 142 have set foot in the ring of a plaza and 35 of them in a single afternoon, and only one woman, Carla Otero, appears with three festivities held. The head of the list has been occupied by Marco Pérez, with 38 performances.
Finally, of the 133 rejoneadores, only 60 have appeared before the public, and 16 of them for a single afternoon; The number of female performers increases to six, among which stands out Lea Vicens, who appears in second place in the ranking with 37 performances, behind Diego Ventura.
The official data on the celebration of celebrations and their distribution by autonomous communities will also be known in May, although Efe has compiled a compilation of the shows organized throughout 2024 and the results it shows are the following:
831 major celebrations were held (bullfights and bullfights and bullfights with picadors), only eight less than in the previous campaign, which represents a stabilization in the numbers of bullfighting shows after the sharp drop forced by the 2020 pandemic.
Although the numbers increased in 2022, the last two seasons have seen the numbers significantly reduced due to the momentary reduction in bulls and steers available in the farms, derived in turn from the sacrifice of breeding females caused by the covid crisis. However, the general figures remain at the level of those of the last years of the last decade.
Specifically, since this 2024 campaign opened on February 9 with a bullfight in Valdemorillo (Madrid) until it closed with another in Niebla (Huelva) on November 3, 435 bullfights have been held in Spain (23 of them mixed), 281 bullfights with picadors and 115 exclusive rejoneo celebrations, according to the figures verified by Efe while waiting for the annual report of the Ministry of Culture.
This season, 831 major celebrations have been held, only 8 less than in the previous campaign.
The only figure that has decreased, as in previous seasons, has been that of bullfighting shows on horseback, with 19 less than in 2023, while the number of bullfights with picadors has increased in 12 celebrations, with the notable contribution of the bullfighting competitions organized by the Fighting Bull Foundation which, in collaboration with the autonomous governments of Madrid, Andalusia, Castilla y León, Extremadura and Valencia, they reached 32 celebrations for newcomers.
For yet another year, Madrid has been the autonomous community that has recorded the highest number of celebrations, with 184 (seven more than in 2023), leading in turn the bullfights section, with 87. Andalusia is close behind. (with the same 155 shows as last year), Castilla-La Mancha (133) and Castilla y León (126), which was where the most celebrations of rejoneo were organized, a total of 29. This is how these four autonomous communities, even with a slight reduction, celebrated 72 percent of the total bullfighting celebrations in Spain.
But communities such as Valencia, where 11 more shows took place than in 2023, and provinces such as Toledo, which with 48 celebrations of all kinds, are the most active in the country after Madrid have especially contributed to maintaining the numbers. , while the rest presented very similar numbers.
In the whole of what is considered the European bullfighting season, without counting the celebrations without death in Portugal, we must also add the 99 major celebrations that were celebrated in the numerous squares in the south of France, which were the same 99 as in 2023, also showing signs of the stability achieved by bullfighting activity after the pronounced crisis of 2020 and 2021.