The Government of the Russian Federation was instructed to amend the Concept for Promoting Youth Sports until 2030 and the action plan for its implementation in a way that enhances affordability for children of physical fitness and sports.
One of the instructions to the Government concerns using funds that sports federations and professional sports leagues receive in the form of target allocations from sports betting companies to finance efforts to increase affordability of youth sports, primarily for children from families with low income, to hold youth sports competitions, and to cover travel, accommodation and meal expenses for participants in such competitions.
Another instruction concerns promoting sports that use low-cost sports inventory and equipment, operating athletic sites and facilities at federal and municipal organisations which implement additional sports training programmes.
The instructions to the Government also concern creating a non-profit organisation legally incorporated as a fund, providing that the key objectives of the fund include additional support for youth and mass sports, sports schools, the Russian Olympic Committee, the Russian Paralympic Committee, national and regional sports federations, the implementation of new formats of international sports competitions and the development of sports infrastructure, and also providing that the fund’s property shall be formed using target allocations by sports betting companies.
In addition, instructions to the Government concern, in part, further expansion of the state information system “Unified Digital Platform ‘Physical Fitness and Sport’; adjustment of federal standards for sports training in order to update, starting from 2026, the budget spending of the Russian Federation on sports training; development of requirements for regional programmes that provide opportunities for children, primarily children from low-income families, to participate in sports on a free-of-charge basis; and amendments to the legislation concerning changes that provide additional protection of the athletes’ rights when they move from one physical fitness and sports organisations to another.
A number of recommendations have been issues to the executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation concerning, among other things, the determination of the need for coaching and teaching staff in organisations that implement additional sports training programmes, and ensuring that such need is met through targeted training, as well as the creation in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation of mechanisms for keeping track of the targeted and effective use of sports facilities and athletic installations.
The State Duma received recommendations to ensure the adoption, during the 2024 autumn session, of a federal law aimed at improving legal regulation of adult education under additional sports training programmes.
The Russian Popular Front has been advised to annually monitor the way the organisations providing additional sports training programmes ensure affordability of such programmes for children, regardless of their families’ income.