"Systemic financing of the top sports of Bosnia and Herzegovina"

The heads of the Olympic Committee of BiH, the president of Prof. dr. Milanko Mučibabić, the vice-president academic prof. dr. Izet Rađo and the general secretary doc. dr. Said Fazlagić was received on a working visit by Chief of Cabinet Dušan Petrović and Cabinet Advisor Mario Đuragić.

At the meeting, the leaders of the OC BiH informed the representatives of the chairman of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović about the current state of BiH sport and the sports system, the successes of our top athletes and teams, but also the needs of Professional Sports Associations of BiH and top athletes in the financial sense in order to achieve these results.

A special focus of the conversation and discussion was on the conclusions/requests from the recently held Round Table on the topic of "Systemic financing of top sports in BiH" and that:

1. It increases the budget for sports at all levels of the BiH government in accordance with the average of the European Union, which amounts to 1% of the total state budget, which would amount to a minimum of 10.7 million KM at the state level.

2. Adopt adequate criteria for the allocation of funds, where funds from the state level should be exclusively intended for the Olympic Committee of BiH, Sports Federations of BiH and the Paralympic Committee of BiH, which we also recommend at the entity levels. The funds would be used for preparations, performances,s and awards of national teams or national team members (Olympians) with permanent control of money flows and spending of funds.

3. The funds must be operational successively from January 1 at the latest. for the upcoming year, not in December when almost all competitions and activities are over.

4. They extract significant funds from games of chance, and especially from SPORTS BETTING SHOPS that use sports, athletes, and sports events as a basic means of functioning and a source of profit.

5. Allocate adequate funds for the program "Support to young Olympic hopefuls" at all levels of the BiH government.

6. Adequate funds are allocated for the "Support for top athletes" program, which would be directed towards potential Olympic candidates and Olympians of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

7. It forms a unique reward system for top results at the state and entity levels achieved at the Olympic Games, and European and world championships.

8. Create a unique system for awarding identical benefits at the BiH level - national sports pensions for all top athletes.

9. Adopt the BiH sports development strategy - the document is ready for adoption.

The leaders of the OK BiH met with great understanding and interest from the Cabinet of the Presidency of BiH in the sense of getting to know the issue of financing, but also the systematic solution of the financing of the top sports of BiH in accordance with the conclusions of the Round Table.

The Olympic Committee will continue its work with the aim of implementing the requirements of the Round Table, which refer to the improvement of conditions for our top athletes and the financing of top sports - concluded the president of OC BiH, Prof. dr. Milanko Mučibabić