When many sports in Sweden lose in the Swedish Sports Confederation’s statistics, football is a sport that is going strong. Compared to the figures from 2019, the number of participation opportunities in the country’s by far the largest sport on the children and youth side has increased by 14 percent (2023).
– Football is still everywhere. Wherever you live, you have the opportunity to play football nearby. I think it’s a big part, says Gunnar Pettersson, children and youth manager at the Swedish Football Association.
– Although it differs between different places, football is also a relatively cheap sport.
Fakta.LOK support
Local activity support (LOK support) is a government support that the National Sports Confederation distributes to associations’ children and youth activities. The associations themselves must, every six months, apply for the support, which is based on the number of activities, leaders and participants.
The figure can be seen as an indicator of young people’s activity level, but also of the well-being of various sports.
Source: Swedish Sports Confederation.
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When many sports point to the coronavirus as a clear explanation for the drop in participation, football seems to have done well in this context.
– Most associations were still able to keep operations going during the pandemic, notes Gunnar Pettersson.
– For sports and for football, it was also extremely helpful that we received restrictions rather than being completely shut down. Then of course it is a big job that was done in all associations to adapt.
“Football also has the luxury of having many role models, both for boys and girls. Our women’s national team players, for example, are getting more and more high-profile,” says Gunnar Pettersson. In the picture: Rosa Kafaji with supporters after the EC qualifying match against England this summer. Photo: Nicklas Elmrin/Bildbyrån
Gunnar Pettersson also highlights a number of structural changes in the football association as potentially underlying reasons.
– A new player training plan, we have developed national forms of play and we have revised the coaching training. The purpose of these changes has been to make things better for the children.
The Swedish Sports Confederation’s figures show also on football’s numerical greatness. The number of participation opportunities for 2023 (approximately 23.5 million) can be compared to the number two sport on the list: Floorball (approximately 5 million).
Facts. Football’s registered participation opportunities
2023: 23 487 316.
2022: 21 289 174.
2021: 20 150 690.
2020: 20 751 516.
2019: 20 641 799.
Source: Swedish Sports Confederation.
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It can also be stated that the large increase in football is a contributing factor to the increase in the total number of athletes – but that there are also many sports that are actually going backwards. Could it be that football eats up other sports? Is it something that is being discussed at the Swedish Football Association?
– There are so many good sports associations in all kinds of sports in Sweden. So I don’t really think that football would eat up the others, says Gunnar Pettersson.
Gunnar Pettersson: “If you create an interest in a sport at a young age, the chance that you will continue to take an interest in different ways increases, even when you get older. It can be anything from one day taking their own children into a football club to some maybe choosing to bet on football and can add things to our national teams in the future to wanting to go and watch matches. The numbers we see now are directly decisive for everything that will happen in ten, twenty years.” Photo: Mathilda Ahlberg/Bildbyrån
He continues:
– First of all, we want children to play football, but also to play other sports. I feel that it has been very common to do several sports in Sweden, but now feel a concern that the economy will limit more and more people from doing so.
– It might mean that the child has to choose a sport at an earlier age, and that will be a disadvantage for all of us. Even if, let’s say, 75 percent choose football and 25 percent another sport, both have had fewer participants.
But that’s not all football that is moving forward, according to the Swedish Sports Confederation’s figures. Basketball is also making progress. There, the statistics also show a substantial step in 2023 compared to 2022.
– The feeling is that there is an incredible power and tailwind in basketball, says the Swedish Basketball Association’s general secretary Anja Frey.
In many cases, the epithet indoor sports seems to sound negative in combination with the coronavirus. But basketball seems to have gotten through the pandemic relatively well. Anja Frey highlights the fact that the sport as it looks today in Sweden has largely sprung from street basketball.
– To say that the clubs had it easy is a complete misstatement, but they were able to be flexible and use the entire infrastructure that exists in the form of outdoor fields connected to more or less every school yard.
Anja Frey sees how the interest in basketball as it appears today in Sweden is connected to being so much more than just a hobby or sport: “For many, it’s about a whole lifestyle. They are passionate not only about the game, but also about music, clothes, role models – and their own journey towards achieving their dreams. The youth barometer shows that one of the main reasons why young people choose basketball is that it reflects their identity.” Photo: Swedish Basketball Association
Anja Frey notes also that basketball in Sweden is “strong in the local community” and that during the pandemic it could enable children and young people to somehow “keep their everyday life”.
– In addition, I believe that there is an inclusive spirit in the sport. It is in basketball’s DNA, she says.
– It is a low threshold. You can play for fun, you can play alone, three on three and of course the more traditional five on five basketball. I think that has been very fortunate, and maybe a little extra during the pandemic.
Facts. Basketball’s registered participation opportunities
2023: 2 733 721.
2022: 2 508 980.
2021: 2 106 928.
2020: 2 005 361.
2019: 2 471 108.
Source: Swedish Sports Confederation.
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The general secretary also highlights pandemic support, a digital education platform that was worked up and ready, and that basketball is strong in general – with two players in the recent NBA draft among other things – as contributing factors.
But at the same time, are there things the union looks at with concern?
– Then we get into the issue of facilities and the possibility of actually being able to receive young people, now that basketball has such power. It’s tricky. It does not apply throughout the country and various attempts are being made in different parts, but hall times in particular are a nut to crack and a long process, says Anja Frey.
– An opportunity that is closer in time is to increase access to hall times between the end of the school day and the beginning of free time. There we have leaders who can meet young people, right in that gap. Another wish is to equip our outdoor areas, and in this way create more positive meeting places for young people.
“Basketball can be found in the big city, in sparsely populated areas and in the suburbs. It is quite unique that one and the same sport has such long arms around Sweden to meet young people where they are – and in different ways with low thresholds and inclusive culture invite them into the basketball family. It feels great to be able to talk about the power of basketball, both on an individual level and on an integration and health level,” says Anja Frey. In the picture: The Lunda Games, on January 4 this year. Photo: Petter Arvidson/Bildbyrån
Another part which the general secretary points out is the challenge in what she formulates as “traditional associational life in relation to the society we have today”.
– We need to find other ways for parents to be able to get involved in their children’s sports compared to how it might have looked before. Screw it up a bit. I would say that you definitely work innovatively in many associations, but it is something to highlight.
– There, I think that you would exchange experiences more with each other. Also sports in between. Learn from each other, and be inspired by each other.
Anja Frey also says that in many associations where parental involvement is weak, work is done on early training and giving young people responsibility. It could be about being a youth leader or a functionary.
