Sports in Finland

In Finland, sporting life is largely based on volunteer activities. Local authorities provide sports facilities. The Ministry of Education's role is to create favourable conditions for sports and physical activity.
The Ministry leads, develops and coordinates sports policy and finances sports in order to promote health-enhancing, competitive and performance sports and related civic activities with a view to advancing well-being and health and supporting children's and young people's growth through sports.
The government co-finances sports provision, supporting the activities of 130 federations with some 30 million euros annually.
There are 7,800 sports clubs in Finland. Annually 350,000 children and young people and 500,000 adults use the services of sports clubs and federations. The most popular sports among adults are walking, including Nordic walking, and cycling. Children's and young people's favourite sport is football.

Organised competive sports

One in ten Finns takes part in organised competitive sports. Only few of them aim at the world top. There are between 2,000 and 4,000 athletes competing at the national level, of whom only 500-800 become world-class athletes.

The Ministry of Education guides sport policy

The Ministry of Education guides sport policy through legislation and financing. The Ministry also monitors the implementation of ethical principles in sports, notably anti-doping activities.
The Ministry's Department for Cultural, Sport and Youth Policy and its Sports Division direct, develop and coordinate sport policy, assisted by the National Sports Council. More about the work of the  Sports Division in the Ministry section.

Sport policy

In its activities, the Ministry of Education highlights the role of sports and physical activity in enhancing the health and well-being of the population and in promoting civil society and inclusion. The Ministry particularly promotes clean performance sport aiming at the world top.
Sport policy is designed to promote the activities and services of voluntary organisations and sports clubs, especially civic activity in sports.
The priority is to develop children's and youth sports and sport education. In view of the beneficial effect of sports on functional capacity, health and well-being, the Ministry supports sports and physical exercise targeted to adults, the elderly and special-needs groups.
Measures are being taken to clarify the division of work and responsibilities in performance sports and to develop scholarship and reward schemes and coaching to enable gifted young athletes to combine a sports career with education.
Financial support is granted for the integration of top-level disability sports into the activities of sports clubs. Measures are also being taken to make grants for gifted young athletes also available to young disabled athletes.

Voluntary activity in sports

In Finland sport provision is largely based on voluntary activity and sport services are mainly provided by sports clubs.
Over one million Finns participate in activities provided by 7,800 sports clubs in Finland. Most of the activities are provided by non-profit associations and by over 500,000 volunteers.

Youth sports

Finland has a programme for children's and young people's sport (2004-2007) comprising various supportive and development measures to encourage young Finns to engage in sports daily. The aim is to increase young people's physical activity. Among others, the programme supports sports clubs which arrange physical activities for schoolchildren, with special focus on physically inactive children and teenagers.

Health-enhancing physical activity

The Health 2015 programme adopted by the Government sees sport and physical activity as a crucial factor for health.
Conditions for health-enhancing physical activity are jointly improved by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Ministry of Transport and Communication, the Ministry of the Environment and the national forest administration. The sporting activities and services are supplied by sports, social and health organisations.
There is a national Kunnossa Kaiken Ikää (Fit for life) programme, which is co-financed by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The purpose of the programme is to create permanent sport services targeted to adults and to encourage the over-40 age groups to engage in sports.

Adapted physical activity

Over one million Finns have special needs owing to a high age, illness or disability. Some of them are able to use sport services, while others need services specially adapted to them.
In the construction and renovation of sports facilities, such as swimming halls, school gyms and nature trails, special attention is paid to unhindered access to physical activity.

Performance sports

Performance sport means individual or team sport aiming at the world top on an ethically sustainable basis. The government does not subsidise professional sports.
The Ministry of Education promotes favourable conditions for competitive and performance sports. To this end, it intensifies coaching, develops coach training, awards grants to athletes, supports anti-doping work, and coordinates performance sports.
Competitive sports are also largely based on volunteer work. The sport federations are responsible for developing and administering performance sport.
The Finnish Olympic Committee contributes to the development of goal-oriented, responsible and ethically sustainable performance sports in Finland and looks after its interests. The corresponding tasks in disability sports are the responsibility of the Finnish Paralympic Committee.
The Research Institute for Olympic Sports (KIHU) is responsible for the development of competitive and performance sports, for applied sport research and the diffusion of research findings.
The Finnish Antidoping Committee is responsible for testing and coordinates anti-doping activities in Finland.
Athletes' grants, which are financed by the Ministry of Education, help athletes to train to their full potential.
Finland has hosted a number of major championships. The Ministry is currently preparing a strategy for major meets, which will set out the preconditions for organising large-scale competitions, including measures to be taken by the administration and other stakeholders.

Anti-doping

The purpose of anti-doping activities is to prevent the use of performance-enhancing substances or methods which are harmful to the athlete. Anti-doping work safeguards the athlete's right to clean competition and fair play. The government supports anti-doping work in Finland.
The Ministry of Education promotes anti-doping work and supports it financially. The Ministry steers the development of anti-doping activities in sports bodies by increasing and, if needed, decreasing its financial support to them.

Finnish Antidoping Agency FINADA

The Finnish Antidoping Agency (FINADA) promotes anti-doping activities, supervises compliance with international anti-doping treaties in Finland, and carries out testing.
Athletes must abide by the Antidoping Code adopted by the FINADA, the anti-doping rules of their national and international federations and, in Olympic sports, the World Anti-Doping Code.
International action is taken to harmonise the rules and practices of different countries and organisations, to develop testing and intensify information and education.
Finland takes part in international anti-doping cooperation within UNESCO and the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA. UNESCO is preparing an International Convention against Doping in Sport, which will bind all the countries in the world.
Finland has made a commitment to eliminating performance-enhancing substance from sport by signing the Anti-Doping Convention adopted by the Council of Europe and its Additional Protocol. The Convention sets out objectives for eliminating doping in sport.
In Finland, the government supports anti-doping activity financially and develops anti-doping legislation. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is responsible for legislation relating to drugs and the Ministry of Justice for amending the Criminal Code.
Measures for eliminating doping are also taken within the European Union and in Nordic cooperation. The EU member states' sport ministers convene regularly to prepare their position on international sport policy and on WADA's activities. The Nordic countries have harmonised their testing practices, developed education and outlined their common positions for international cooperation. Nordic cooperation has been particularly significant in the development of quality assurance systems for testing.