NORWAY
Capital: Oslo | Population: 5 million
Lead body for sport development: Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports
Government Support | A- |
Elite Sport Rank | 11 |
Elite Sport Rank Per Capita | 1 |
Youth Sport Participation Grade | A- |
Norway coordinates sport development through democratic processes and an umbrella entity, the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF), which includes 55 sports federations, 19 regional confederations, 370 sports councils, the Olympic Committee, Paralympic Committee, and Special Olympics. The NIF equally represents the mass sport movement and the elite sport structure, with both stakeholder groups possessing 75 votes at the biennial General Assembly. Sport clubs are the backbone of Norwegian sport with more than 12,000 of them across the country, which are almost entirely run by volunteers.
Clubs at all levels, coaches, managers and parents are expected to adhere to the Children’s Rights in Sports, a statement updated by the General Assembly in 2007 that helps anchor Norway’s globally respected sport system in the principles of inclusion, play, and social development. Before age 13, children play in clubs that prioritize local, low-cost competition and training that is developmentally appropriate. Only after that do promising child athletes enter the high-performance pipeline, via National Sport Federations and Norway’s elite performance organization, Olympiatoppen. Inspired by Norway, Project Play created a Children’s Bill of Rights in Sports statement tailored for the U.S. which has been endorsed by more than 200 organizations including the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, and 300 athletes.
The NIF is overseen by the Ministry of Culture’s Department of Sport Policy, a government agency. The Ministry guides public funding for sport, administering 64% of gaming proceeds from Norway’s national lottery and sports betting mechanism, Norsk Tipping, to the sports ecosystem, which receives roughly $400 million USD annually for new projects. Most of that support goes back to communities to help train coaches, buy equipment, and build facilities sought by communities. The Ministry works with counties (states), the education agency, and the NIF to operationalize the national sport policy objective of “Joy of Sport for All.”
At every level of sport, the National Sport Federations are held responsible for building safe, fair, and inclusive environments for participants. Only sports facilities that meet universal design requirements that encourage usability for all people, with and without disabilities, are eligible for government funding. Additionally, the NIF has set guidelines for anti-corruption, transparency of funds, gender balance, and inclusion of persons from various ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds as part of a prerequisite to receive funding, with a zero-tolerance discrimination policy to support this work.