site.btaMinistry of Youth and Sports Aims to Stop Drain of Money

Reporting his Ministry’s performance within the government of Nikolay Denkov in the past nine months, Minister of Youth and Sports Dimitar Iliev said that he and his team have worked hard to achieve three big goals: ensuring the best possible conditions for the development of elite sport, making sport accessible for all in Bulgaria, and stopping the drain of money for sport.

Iliev stressed that in an environment of inherited problems and numerous attacks, the leadership of the Ministry worked in full publicity and transparency. "We have brought stability to the system. We increased funding and introduced strict control measures for federations. We have secured a record budget for the Olympic sports centres - nearly BGN 43 million for 2024. So our athletes will focus solely on winning more medals for Bulgaria at the Summer Olympics in Paris," the Minister of Youth and Sports said. An important sign of the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for Bulgarian athletes is the 27% increase in the monthly funding for training and recovery of athletes with Olympic quotas, he added. 

"We have introduced for the first time in Bulgaria bonuses for young elite athletes. Until now, they did not receive a single lev for the medals at world and European championships. Starting this year, our young champions will receive BGN 20,000 for first place at world championships and BGN 10,000 at European championships. They are our future, we continue to actively work for them", Iliev was adamant. Since the first day of his inauguration his team has stood firmly behind the position that there is no second category of athletes. In this context, the bonuses for Paralympians have been equalized with those for Olympic medalists, he pointed out. 

Nearly BGN 5 million has been approved this year to fund non-Olympic sports. The funds will reach a record number of 25 federations, the report to the public also noted.

"We are giving back the prestige of the coaching profession. We have increased the salaries of coaches and their teams in all sports by 15%," Minister Iliev added. According to him, new programmes are also underway, with double the funds provided for school and student sports. The Ministry is actively working with young people and has outlined concrete measures to make Bulgaria an even better place for development and prosperity.

Transparency, accountability, and control measures have been put in place for both the Ministry and the federations, so that every lev from the budget goes into sport. "With clear and categorical criteria, we are putting an end to money flowing to "our people" without result. In 9 months we have managed to lay good foundations. There are still many important things to do for Bulgarian sport", Minister Iliev said.