On 2 December, the European Parliament hosted the event “From Playground to Olympus – Financing Europe’s Sport Future,” organised by the MEP Nikolina Brnjac (Croatia, EPP). In her opening speech, MEP Brnjac, former Sports Minister of Croatia stressed that sport infrastructure must focus on everyday community spaces that give all children and citizens access to physical activity, and she called for the next Multiannual Financial Framework to include increased-dedicated funding for local sport facilities. Glenn Micallef, the EU Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, highlighted that Europe’s sport ecosystem can only thrive with long-term investment, combining grassroots participation and elite development, and noted that existing EU instruments such as Erasmus+ and cohesion policy already support inclusion, coaching, and facility upgrades. During the panel discussion, MEP Daniel Attard (Malta, S&D) underlined sport’s impact on social mobility and mental health and called for stronger EU-level funding; Sanda Čorak of the Croatian Olympic Committee pointed to Croatia’s improved sporting results while warning that sport is still too often treated as a cost, not an investment. Furthermore, Folker Hellmund, Director of the EOC EU Office urged better integration of sport into EU funding regulations. Together, participants called for coordinated action to ensure that communities across Europe have the facilities and support needed to practise sport in daily life.
