Bulgarian State Budget Will Fund Sports Schools Development

Bulgaria's Sports Minister, Svilen Neykov, has announced state-funded plans for the future development of sports centers and to assist young athletes. Photo by BGNES

The Bulgarian government has on Wednesday approved changes in the Law on Physical Education and Sports, whereby the construction and renovation of sports facilities will be financed by the state budget and the Bulgarian Sports Lotto.

Restoration of sports schools throughout the country will begin from the next school year (October 2010) with about BGN 10 M to be provided by the two funding sources, said Svilen Neykov, the Minister of Sport.

The intention is for all municipal sports schools to become state-controlled and to be directly subordinate to the Bulgarian sports ministry.

There are already nine state sports schools in Bulgaria that are controlled by the sports ministry, Minister Neykov added.

"The main idea is for us to succeed in profiling these gifted, talented children, who are significant at the highest sporting level, while they're still very young. In this way we will engage sports centers in the different regions; we will restore them in part, as it is a very difficult process - equipment and other tools must be purchased to help in discovering talents," explained Neykov.

The sports minister also proposed a way to stimulate Bulgarian athletes to study at university.

"We need to provide these elite competitors with scholarships once they enter higher education, so that we can support them and stimulate them. Because the amount of work that our elite athletes put in is huge and we should appreciate it," he said.

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