In the time span of two years the general expenses for sport increased rose from €41 million to €66 million, in order to fulfil the new aims for 2025.

The aim for 2025 is to further strengthen Luxembourg's sports sector, and to work on the necessary infrastructure. On Monday, Minister of Sport Georges Mischo announced his priorities for the coming year to the press. He talked about simplifying administrative processes, the ideal use of sports infrastructure as well as the training and sensitisation of athletes and trainers.

Professionalise sports and strengthen volunteers

To make Luxembourgish sport more professional in addition to supporting volunteers is among the priorities for Mischo and his team in 2025. More money does not equal to a higher success rate, it is most important to invest in the right places.

“Whether that be for arbitration, functional costs, or for the hiring of new staff, on the whole the idea is to render sport more professional, without forgetting the volunteering aspect. That is a big challenge, to first of all motivate people for volunteering again, to highlight arbitration and thus professionalise Luxembourg’s sport”

Build new infrastructures and take advantage of existing ones

To construct sports infrastructures like the ‘Velodrome’ is one thing, yet one could also use the already existing sites. One critique consisted of the fact that most gym buildings, football fields and swimming pools, used for schools for example are not accessible enough. Mischo has had promising exchanges with the Minister of Education Claude Meisch regarding the issue.

“Claude Meisch is willing to help us, so that we can use school infrastructures better after school ends, to support our clubs. Our population is steadily growing, bringing in more athletes, our clubs are growing and with their help we could use infrastructures to their fullest extent.”

Increase in violent behaviour

If the aim is to support volunteering or to encourage people to pursue a career as a referee, then it is counter-productive when the overall impression is one of growing aggression on and outside of the fields.

“The situations one witnesses or hears about in the media are unacceptable to me as a minister of sport. Sports should be something where athletes can prove themselves in a competition, afterwards one should congratulate the winner and train to become better. It is a ‘no-go’, especially in the youth and arbitration department, to criticise people in a manner for them to lose motivation.”

Alongside these measures, the Luxembourgish Anti-Doping Agency ALAD is going to be more financially supported. There are two pilot projects ongoing in collaboration with both the tennis and the athletics federation, to seek a substitute for the role of general manager.