The sports funding law should bring more medals.
What: AFP
More medals by law: The traffic light government brings its plan to the cabinet – and everyone agrees: The Sports Promotion Act is a historic opportunity for Germany as a sports location. However, opinions differ when it comes to design. The Athletes Germany Association in particular feels excluded.
What is it about?
The federal government has worked with organized sport in Germany on a law to stipulate the funding of sport. It’s about more than just the amount (331 million euros from 2025 from the Federal Ministry of the Interior) that is distributed annually from tax money for competitive sports.
Ultimately, the law is intended to crown the elite sports reform and make German sport more internationally competitive. The focus is on an independent sports agency for “one-stop” support.
What should the sports agency do?
A lot. It is supposed to manage, prioritize and distribute tax money – controlled by a board of directors – while keeping an eye on associations and athletes, working flexibly, shouldering the bureaucratic effort and thus keeping the backs of those involved in the sports system.
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Great demands are placed on the entity planned as a foundation, which makes the contention of the advisory boards all the more heated. They are supposed to define the “guardrails” within which the agency should steer German sport.
What do the actors say?
The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) has criticized the first and second drafts, but appears to be largely satisfied with the version that will go to the cabinet on Wednesday. The German athletes, who were also involved in the development process, fear that their concerns will not be taken into account.
These are: More say in the sports agency’s committees, better protection for athletes in the federal squad and established rights to protection and fair working conditions.
“Behind the Possibilities”
:Athletes: Sports funding law not good enough
A new sports funding law is intended to help top German sport get back on its feet. Well-intentioned, badly done, says the athletes’ representatives.
What does politics say?
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has high hopes for the law and, above all, for the sports agency as the core of future sports funding. This is “in the interests of the athletes. It is in the interests of coaches,” said Scholz recently. Team D won 33 medals in Paris – including twelve gold ones. This puts Germany in tenth place in the medal table. All golden moments – twelve times pure joy.08/13/2024 | 3:10 minutes
What’s next?
The associations’ participation has been completed and the second draft from August has been refined. The traffic light cabinet is now working on the proposed law and it is expected to be passed on Wednesday.
The readings in parliament will then wait and the law should be passed by summer. Adjustments are possible, and the Athletes Germany Association is also hoping for this, as they complain that their concerns have not been heard enough.
Thomas Weikert takes stock of the Olympics and sees deficiencies in sports funding in Germany. The DOSB boss also talks about a possible German Olympic bid.11.08.2024 | 12:20 minutes
Source: SID
