Funny funding
February 19, 2015
Germany's National Audit Office has criticized the work of the country's Olympic Sports Confederation (the DOSB), saying the organization responsible for sports funding lacks transparency.
According to a report released by research group Correct!v on Thursday, the National Audit Office (known as Bundesrechnungshof in German) checked sports funding in Germany over a period of two years.
In a 22-page paper prepared for Germany's Minister of the Interior, the auditors recommend new criteria for determining funding for individual sports associations and say that the DOSB is "not neutral."
The auditors also recommend that the Ministry of the Interior, who finance sport in Germany via the DOSB, obtain impartial advice from consultants who do not have a conflict of interest.
"After a first look at the paper, we can see that some suggestions from Germany's National Audit Office are positive," the DOSB said, responding in a statement on Thursday.
"In some sections we would have liked to see a bit more sporting knowledge, more understanding of the systems in sport and the requirements of German sports though."
Many of the suggestions would not lead to more efficiency, the DOSB argue, but would instead create "simply more bureaucracy."
The system of German sports funding also came in for criticism during the London 2012 Olympics. In order to receive maximum funding, various sports associations had talked up their medal-winning chances, even though they did not have enough top athletes to boast of, the report documents.
This year the Ministry of the Interior will fund German top-level sport to the tune of 153 million euros ($173.9 million). Back in 2013, government funding for German sports totaled 46.3 million euros.
al/pwh (dpa, SID)