Massive budget cuts in sport could jeopardize the future of Dutch athletes

The Netherlands ended the Paris Olympic Games with several gold medals. The success of the Dutch athletes is increasingly putting the Netherlands in the spotlight as a sporting country. However, according to the latest studies, this reputation will not last long. In the coming years, half of all Dutch municipalities will massively cut their sports budgets. A terrible effect on the future of top athletes in the Netherlands, AD reports.

According to sports researcher Nathan Geurink from the Mulier Institute, the new Cabinet is to blame for the austerity measures primarily aimed at curbing municipal sports facilities. According to his research, funding for sports would be cut by ten percent, with billions more in cuts to follow. "The money that local authorities currently receive from the state to promote sport will be thrown onto the big pile under the new cabinet," explains Geurink. "And this big pile will then be 10 percent smaller." In a few years, the "gorge year" will be added: a cut in the national contribution of a further three billion euros," Geurink told the newspaper.

The cuts would primarily affect sports instructors, i.e., local sports coaches. This will have a lasting impact on finding sporting talent. Without a coach in the neighborhood, vulnerable groups such as young people would lose contact and enthusiasm for sport. And with that, young talent in the sports sector would also be lost, according to the sports researcher.

The Mulier Institute survey revealed that one in seven Dutch municipalities will cut the budget for sports facilities. To cushion the impact of the government's cut in subsidies, the municipalities want to introduce higher rents for sports clubs and thus generate more income.

The survey ultimately showed that the future of sports clubs in the Netherlands is on shaky ground. Local sports clubs have recently come under financial pressure due to the coronavirus crisis and the rise in energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine.

Recent studies have shown that almost one in three clubs is financially at risk. Currently, clubs allow membership fees to rise less sharply than inflation, "but the question is how long they can keep this up," concludes the Mulier Institute.