The recovery and resilience facility (RRF) plans are the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU, a temporary recovery instrument to help repair the immediate economic and social damage brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Already beginning on 18 June 2021 the European Commission has started to adopt positive assessments of national recovery and resilience plans.
To this day 12 RRF plans have been endorsed by the European Commission. Five of those (Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, France) mentioning sport and consequently entailing sport-related investments in the respective country.
The most frequently mentioned areas of investment in connection with sports are infrastructure (energy-efficient renovations), tourism, employment, youth development, education, inclusion and health.
The biggest share of the €672.5 billion in loans and grants will be handed to Italy. The Italian RRF plan addresses the sports sector through the strengthening of the sports infrastructures in schools and the creation of sports facilities and equipped parks.
The EOC EU Office will continue to monitor the approval of further RRF plans.