Svenska Spel, the operator of the Swedish national lottery, has allocated funds to organise street football projects across the country.
As part of a Swedish Football Association (SvFF) initiative to improve the levels of training and competitions, Svenska Spel is committing SEK3m via its Movement Fund to help communities provide street football activities.
The SvFF is focusing on street football in order to ‘continue to develop the form of training and competition’.
Marie-Louise Dahlberg, Competition Developer at the Swedish Football Association, commented: “Thanks to the funds from the Movement Fund, we can start up a new, more spontaneous variant of football that can be played regardless of location.
“The twelve associations that have been selected will organize day tournaments and try-out opportunities around areas where children, young people, adults and the elderly are located, such as beaches or in the middle of the city.”
The initiative allows greater accessibility to football as fewer players are required – only three players are needed – and it will focus on inclusion, regardless of ambition or conditions.
“We are in the start of our planning. What has been decided is that we will offer both ongoing training opportunities at our facility Äppellunda and tournaments at selected locations during the summer. What we already see as positive effects of the initiative is the opportunity to be able to offer young leaders participation and a good local collaboration with relevant actors,” added Petra Söderberg, chair of the youth section, Alnö IF.
The Movement Fund allows specialised sporting organisations to apply for funding each year to attract more players and remove any barriers to entry for new players.
“Street football makes it easier for more people to get in touch with the sport. By being able to offer the sport in more places than the typical football pitch, the threshold for both football and movement is lowered,” concluded Linn Rydstedt, Project Manager for the Movement Fund at Svenska Spel.