Finnish Sports Federation, FSF (Suomen Liikunta ja Urheilu ry, SLU)

Finnish Sports System

• non-governmental sports federation for over one million Finns
• the Finnish Sports Federation was founded in November 1993
• the Federation serves as an umbrella organisation for all of its member organisations
• the FSF has 126 member organisations, the membership of which totals over 1,1 million Finns.
• At the local level there are more than 8 000 sports clubs, which is one club per every 650 Finns
• Regional level: 15 regional organisations (see map) of the Finnish Sports Federation
• National level: 75 special sports federations, 51 other national sports organisations
• All national organisations – including the Olympic Committee are members of the Finnish Sports Federation (SLU)
• Finland is the leading country in Europe for physical activity according to "The Citizens of the European Union and Sport" -studies by the EU Commission
• See: Organization chart

A system of voluntary leadership

• Sports activities in Finland are mainly organised by sports clubs and federations
• The sports clubs are non-profit making: their ownership are cooperatively based on membership
• Most of the people who organise the activities of the sports clubs are volunteers – they receive no financial payment for their work .There are 500 000 voluntary sports leaders in sport clubs and associations in Finland.
• Over 20% of the population (1,1 million Finns) are members of sports clubs
• 10% of the population take part in voluntary work in sports in their spare time 
• 40% of Finnish children and youth are active in sports clubs
• 64% of women and 60% of men engage in physical activity and sports at least twice a week

FSF, Tampere Region (Hämeen Liikunta ja Urheilu ry, HLU )

• 36 municipalities (see map)
• About 650 000 people
• 800 sport clubs

FSF Tampere: Goals in brief

• To increase the amount of physically active people
• Develop the quality and effectiveness of sports; education
• To enable possibilities of sports and HEPA (European network for the promotion of health-enhancing physical activity) to even more people (http://www.euro.who.int/hepa/20050822_1)
• To increase the avareness of sports and HEPA in our region

FSF Tampere: Ways of acting

• Co-operation
• Education
• Act for sport
• Development programs
• Sports events
• Information sharing about sports and HEPA
• Services for organisations

Contact information:

Ari Koskinen
Regional Manager
ari.koskinen@hlu.fi

tel. 0207 482 601