Saxony's government is equally committed to popular and elite sport and wants to bring Olympic Games competitions to the state. After Minister-President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) hosted a "sports summit" in Dresden's Heinz Steyer Stadium, the participants expressed their confidence afterwards. "It goes without saying that sport will also benefit from funds from the special fund and the federal government's 'sports billion'," emphasized Kretschmer.
In the event of a successful Olympic bid, competitions in Saxony too
According to Kretschmer, Saxony has repeatedly demonstrated in the past that it is an excellent host of major sporting events. "With this in mind, the state government supports a German bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer. The concepts submitted by Berlin, Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia envisage competitions also taking place in Saxony. It would be fantastic if we could have Olympic sport here at home."
Academic coach training in Leipzig
The Minister of the Interior responsible for sport, Armin Schuster (CDU), recalled the reestablishment of academic coach training at the University of Leipzig. "With this revival of the formerly very successful DHfK degree program, we will decisively and sustainably strengthen the Saxon, but also the German coaching landscape and thus promote our young talents with expertise and passion." During the GDR era, the German University of Physical Education was a recognized training facility for coaches.
The aim is to raise the level of coaching remuneration in Saxony to a level that will prevent coaches from leaving, said Schuster. If you want to prevent their migration to other federal states, you need 4.2 million euros more. He had already "sweated out" 1.5 million euros from his budget during the negotiations for the last double budget: 2.7 million euros would be missing, which was the requirement for the next budget round.
"When the first 52 graduates leave the university, we will have set an example throughout Germany for a history that was once highly successful in the GDR," said Schuster. Leipzig offers the only academic coach training program in Germany. This will have an incredible effect on the sports scene.
From 2026, top-level sports funding from the federal government is to increase by 100 million euros. According to the Saxon State Chancellery, Saxony is setting a good example: the funding contract for the state sports association will exceed the 30 million euro mark for the first time next year. An additional 1.5 million euros have already been made available for coaches' remuneration.
Copyright 2025, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
