Background information

On 15 October 2020 the government decided to support professional sports and sports event organisers, as the sector has suffered hard due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sports clubs from the main professional (league) competitions (football, ice hockey, basketball, volleyball and handball) in the Czech Republic and organisers of sports events that could not take place due to the pandemic or had to be postponed will be entitled to apply for the subsidy.

Content of measure

By Resolution No. 1038, the Government approved the establishment of the COVID - Sport II. The budget available for the program is CZK 500,000,000 (€18,274,854 approx.). The managers and administrators of the program are the the National Sports Agency [Národní sportovní agentura, NSA] (https://www.agenturasport.cz/)  together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic [Ministerstvo průmyslu a obchodu České republiky, MPO] (http://www.mpo.cz).

The subsidy consists of two parts:

• PART A: Support of business entities that take part in professional leagues of the highest or the second highest level, or participate in  European and national cup competitions or in the collective sports included in the Olympic program (up to now 10 league competitions have been selected - more info available at https://www.agenturasport.cz/vlada-schvalila-vypsani-programu-covid-sport-2/). Clubs from the highest leagues selected by NSA will be entitled to apply for the highest amount of CZK 12,500,000 (€456,871 approx.).
• PART B: Support for business entities organising or co-organising sports events that had to be cancelled due to consequences related to COVID-19 pandemic. Sports events may be of both a competitive and recreational character. The sports events must take place in the Czech Republic and must be officially announced in the 2020 schedule and intended for athletes from more than two sports clubs or the general public. The condition of the second year of the event is compulsory.

The organisers of sports events will be reimbursed a maximum of 50% of eligible costs up to a maximum of  CZK 10,000,000 (€365,497 approx.). The minimum amount of total eligible costs per application is set at CZK 1,000,000 (€36,550 approx.). The subsidy can be requested for canceled sports events, which were to take place in the period from 12 March 2020 to 31 July 2020.

Use of measure

• Programme A (PART A) provided support to 74 beneficiaries in the amount of CZK 459,068,424 (€18,144,997 approx.)
• Programme B (PART B) provided support to 11 beneficiaries in the amount of CZK 18,160,542 (€717,808 approx.)

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Public support service providers	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

No involvement.

Views and reactions

information not available.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 14 October 2020: Vláda schválila vypsání programu COVID – Sport 2 (www.agenturasport.cz)
• 27 October 2020: Opatření na pomoc firmám (www.mpo.cz)