The President of the German Athletics Association Calls for More Funding for the Sport

The President of the German Athletics Association (DLV) has asked for more money for the sport. He would like “a billion more,” said Jürgen Kessing at the end of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. But is there really a lack of money?

The top of the world rushes, DLV President Kessing also expressed the desire for more support from federal politics. one should “Put a billion or two into sport for kids to make them strong”demanded the 66-year-old. “The sport as a whole has to stand up, raise its voice and fight for it.”

Germany must do more financially for the sport, said Kessing. The total provided by the federal government “around 300 million” wouldn’t be enough to keep up. Before the last day of competition at the World Championships in Athletics in Budapest, the German team had three zeros in the medal table.

More money means more medals? Last not

The 300 million euros that Kessing mentioned relate to federal sports funding. The Federal Ministry of the Interior is responsible for sport. According to the ministry, the grants have increased almost constantly since 2013, with slight fluctuations. The DLV received 6.0 million euros in 2013, in 2022 it was 10.4 million euros. All Olympic sports associations in Germany together also benefited from an increase from 53.5 million euros to 103.3 million euros in the same period. The formula that more money automatically leads to more medals didn’t work recently.

Development of sports funding 2013 – 2022 (source BMI)

For example, funds increased in 2015. The then Federal Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maizière, then said: “If we spend a lot of taxpayer money to promote sport, something has to come out of it in the end. As hard as it sounds: medals and top places are the goal of promoting top-class sport. At the end of the operation, there should be more medals than now.” In 2012, the German track and field athletes won eight medals in London and three in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Federal government wants to cut funds

But now sport in Germany is threatened with development in the other direction. The approved federal budget provides less money for sport, from 303 million euros to 276 million euros, the funds are to be reduced, i.e. by almost ten percent. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior explained this to the newspaper “Die Zeit” with the reduction in the overall budget.

The federal states and local authorities also support sport

With the “a billion or another” Kessing probably does not mean explicitly the promotion of sport, which he mentioned elsewhere, but rather more generally more means from top-class sport to popular sport and school sport.

However, the public funding of sport does not end with federal sports funding. There are also services from other sources: the provision of sports facilities by municipalities, the organization of school sports by the federal states or the opportunity for athletes to combine professional sport with a job at customs, the federal police and the armed forces. In addition, the federal states also have sports funding.

Kessing is hoping for positive effects from the Olympics in Germany

For Kessing, in addition to the desire for more money, the hope for the Olympic Games remains. In his view, an application could have positive effects. “We haven’t had an Olympic Games in Germany for 50 years, that would create an incredible incentive”, said the DLV President. Young people can look forward to and prepare for this, and the infrastructure can also benefit. “We have a lot of catching up to do there.”

For the summer and winter games in 2012, 2018, 2022, 2024 and 2032, German applications came to nothing at different times for different reasons: sometimes they failed because of the election, sometimes because of the IOC, sometimes because of rejection by the population and sometimes because of themselves Another bid for the 2036 Games is currently under discussion.