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International Journal of Sport Policy

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Switzerland
Jean-Loup Chappelet

IDHEAP Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration,

Lausanne, Switzerland
Version of record first published: 27 Apr 2010.

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International Journal of Sport Policy

Vol. 2, No. 1, March 2010, 99110

Switzerland
Jean-Loup Chappelet*

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IDHEAP Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration, Lausanne, Switzerland

Swiss public policies for sport have expanded slowly but surely since 1874 when gymnastics
was included in the Federal Military Organization Act: one of the earliest cases of including
sport in a piece of national legislation. Over the twentieth century, in parallel with the
marked evolution in the notion of sport, the Swiss Confederation, its Cantons and its
municipalities progressively introduced public policies to develop sport as a tool for physical
education, health, social integration and economic development. This article shows how
sport has moved particularly over the last thirty years from a purely private endeavour to
a socio-political phenomenon that involves all levels of government in Switzerland to an
ever-increasing extent. It concludes by presenting emerging policy trends and by charting
some possible research directions for the future.
After briefly reviewing the genesis of public sport development policies in Switzerland, the
present article outlines the current legal framework for State intervention in sport. It then
describes the substantial transformation in the configuration of the main actors involved in
Swiss sport (public bodies, associations and commercial enterprises) that took place in the
1980s and 1990s. This is followed by an examination of the current federal funding for sport
and the situation produced by the Federal Councils Concept for a sport policy in Switzerland,
which was adopted in 2000 by the Swiss Government (OFSPO 2000). The article concludes
with a discussion of current issues and recent trends in Swiss sport policies.

Genesis of Swiss public sport development policies

In Switzerland, the first half of the nineteenth century heralded the beginning of the institutionalization of certain forms of physical activity. Although their objectives were more patriotic
and civic than sporting, the Socit Suisse des Carabiniers (Swiss Shooters Association),
founded 1824, and the Federal Gymnastics Society, formed in 1832, were historically important in the development of sport (Marcacci 2006). The period 1830 to 1848 also saw the
introduction of the public schools system which, influenced by the ideas of Rousseau,
Pestalozzi and, most importantly, Adolphe Spiess (18101858), both through his writings
and his teaching work in the Canton of Basle (Pieth 1979), which promoted the spread of
physical education in Switzerland.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, inspired by Germanys Turnverein
Movement, gymnastics became increasingly popular in the German-speaking areas of
Switzerland. Many people felt that this Movement was a significant factor in the unification
*Email: jean-loup.chappelet@idheap.unil.ch
ISSN 1940-6940 print/ISSN 1940-6959 online
# 2010 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/19406941003634065
http://www.informaworld.com

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100

J-L. Chappelet

of Germany and in Prussias victory over France at Sedan in 1870 (Burgener 1970).
Consequently, when the Federal Council revised the constitution in 1874, one of the clauses
on military organization (Article 81) included a requirement for every Canton to provide boys
aged 10 to 20 with gymnastic lessons as preparation for military service. These lessons were to
be provided by teachers who had received appropriate training at the armys new-soldierschools and the Cantons teacher-training colleges. The Confederation also introduced mandatory shooting practice for young men aged 18 to 20 and set up a consultative body called the
Federal Gymnastics Commission (CFG)1 to produce federal text books and to advise the
Ministry of Defence (Dpartement militaire) on progress in the field of physical exercise.
However, applying these measures proved difficult, due to the constitutional division of
responsibilities between the Confederation (responsible for the army) and the Cantons (responsible for education).
Apart from gymnastics and shooting, most modern sports were introduced to
Switzerland through the influence of English schools and British tourists, especially in the
French speaking part of Switzerland (Morath 1996). Lausannes cricket club was among the
first to be created on the continent (1860). Switzerlands first football club was founded in
1872 in St-Gall, followed by national federations for cycling (1883), rowing (1886), football
and athletics (1895), tennis (1896), golf (1898) and horse riding (1900). These federations of
clubs had exclusively sporting objectives and were based on the English model of competition and/or leisure (Marcacci 2006).
It was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that the federal measures for
gymnastics included in the 1874 Act could be applied in full and extended to clubs other than
gymnastics. A 1907 amendment to the military organization act made teaching gymnastics at
school obligatory and stated that the Confederation would introduce courses for gymnastics
teachers (article 102). It also encouraged associations. . . to pursue the physical development
of young people after they leave school as preparation for military service, and trained
teachers to do this (article 103). In addition, it provided subsidies for other institutions whose
objectives were to develop military skills (article 126). Thus, the promotion of physical and
sports activities at and after school became part of federal policy through military policy,
although it was strongly influenced by educationalists within the CFG (CF 1971).
However, the term sport was not used until 1930 when the CFG became the Federal
Commission for Gymnastics and Sport (CFGS). In the meantime the amateur sports movement
became better organized. The Swiss Olympic Committee (COS) was set up in 1912, through the
impetus of French-speaking Switzerland, in order to bring together sports federations (except
the federal gymnastics society, which preferred to remain separate) and to facilitate the
participation of Swiss athletes in the Olympic Games. The National Physical Education
Association (ANEP) was set up 10 years later, following the CFGs proposal to bring together
national federations (including non-Olympic federations) and to reduce the divergence between
peoples gymnastics (in todays parlance, sport for all), modern competitive sport (especially
Olympic sports) and educational sport (physical education). In 1938 the ANEP obtained secure
funding when it was allocated a quarter of the profits of the Socit du Sport-Toto, an association
set up by the Cantons to run sports betting. The remaining three quarters was kept by the
Cantons which, under the Swiss constitution, have a monopoly on running lotteries.
The increasingly large profits generated by lotteries enabled Switzerlands Cantons and,
most importantly, its municipalities to introduce sport policies. Sport-Totos total cantonal sports
funding amounted to approximately CHF 1.6 billion for the period 1938 to 1998 (Kennel 1999).
These funds were mostly used to subsidize clubs and their facilities and, following the Second
World War, to build sports facilities in most municipalities. Before the war, only the largest cities
had been able to provide such facilities, sometimes following very stormy political debates. For

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International Journal of Sport Policy

101

example, in Lausanne the leftist municipal council that was elected in 1933 made the provision of
sports facilities for all and subsidies for local societies one of its priorities.
Following Germanys success at the Berlin Olympics in 1936, and at the instigation of
federal politicians with firm support from the sporting world, the Federal Council proposed
making it obligatory for boys to be given preparatory instruction for military service, based
on sports and physical activities after school. However, this bill was rejected in 1940
following a referendum called by religious bodies and the Scout movement, which did not
want to see a military takeover of sport. Nevertheless, the following year, the Federal
Council used the executive powers it had been accorded because of World War II to
introduce an obligatory three hours of gymnastics per week in schools and to offer voluntary
preparatory instruction. Finally, in 1944, it created the Federal School of Gymnastics and
Sport (EFGS), which was set up at Macolin, on the border between the French and German
speaking areas of Switzerland. This civilian school for training physical education teachers
for the Cantons was nevertheless attached to the Ministry of Defence until 1981. From its
earliest days, Macolin was the federal governments centre of reference for all sporting
questions, under close supervision from the CFGS.

The current legal framework for Switzerlands public sport policies

During the 1950s and 1960s, when sport in Switzerland and elsewhere started becoming a
widespread social phenomenon and moved far beyond any purely military focus, federal
government actions were still based on the 1907 military organization act, which had been
revised for the last time in 1947. However, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the
country needed a stronger and more appropriate legal framework in order to encompass all
the actions carried out by the Confederation and the Cantons in the field of sport. As sport
touches upon both education and health, two sectors that were traditionally the responsibility
of the Cantons, the constitution had to be modified.
In 1969 the Federal Council outlined five motives for adopting a constitutional amendment on gymnastics and sport. They were, in order: public health, military defence, general
education, the judicious organization of leisure activities and the honourable representation
of Switzerland in international competitions (CF 1969).
In 1970, following a six-month consultation procedure, the Federal Council put its
constitutional amendment on encouraging gymnastics and sport before the people and the
Cantons. This amendment was approved with a large majority. It stated that
1) The Confederation has the right to introduce measures regarding young peoples participation
in gymnastics and sport. It can, by act of parliament, make the teaching of gymnastics and sports
in schools obligatory. 2) It will encourage adults to do gymnastics and sports. 3) It will run a
school of gymnastics and sports. 4) The Cantons and organizations concerned will be consulted
during the drawing up of implementation acts (CF 1971, p. 4).

Almost 30 years later, as part of a detailed revision of the constitution in 1999, the word
gymnastics was removed from the text and sports became singular. Thus, the article now
number 68, just before culture was reformulated as follows:
1) The Confederation encourages sport, especially the teaching of sport. 2) It will run a school of
sport. 3) It can legislate on young peoples participation in sport and declare the teaching of sport
in schools to be obligatory.

102
Table 1.

J-L. Chappelet
Sums allocated to federal public sport policies.

In millions of CHF

1972

1980

1990

1999*

Subsidies for physical education at school

Youth + Sport
Subsidies to national federations and ANEP/ASS/AOS
Scientific research

0.65
6.08
1.33
0

2.33
19.44
3.70
0.08

0.74
31.84
3.78
0.16

0.67
51.91
4.21
0.38

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*Final year of existence for the EFGS before it was incorporated into OFSPO (see section 3).
Source: (Baumgartner 1999).

Following the 1970 constitutional amendment, a federal bill encouraging gymnastics and
sport (LEGS) was passed in 1972. It described the missions of the EFGS at Macolin and of
the CFGS. Its five main chapters instituted three sector-specific and two transversal (or
cross-cutting) public policies (Blanc 1997). The beneficiaries of the sector-specific policies
were school students, young people and adult sportspeople. These policies concerned: 1)
obligatory physical education at school, in collaboration with the Cantons; 2) optional sport
outside school, through coaching for boys and girls a policy that became known as Youth
+ Sport; 3) adult sport, through subsidies to national sports associations. The transversal
policies concerned sports facilities and scientific research into sport. Table 1 shows the sums
allocated to these different policies over the years (except sports infrastructure: see section 3)
through the EFGS budget (Baumgartner 1999). It can be seen that the Youth + Sport
programme was by far the largest and fastest growing beneficiary.
The LEGS was reorganized five times between 1984 and 2000 (see section 3) in order to
take into account changes in sport (such as doping) and to extend federal responsibilities
(particularly in sport outside school). The LEGS and its amendments form almost the entire
legal framework for federal public sport policies. This legislation has a non-interventionist
format that Chaker (1999), in a study of 20 members of the Council of Europe, found to be
typical of northern European countries. Following the introduction of the LEGS, most
Cantons passed implementation laws for sport in school and after school. This legislation
allowed the Cantons to implement the Youth + Sport programme at a cantonal level.
These federal and Cantonal sports policies were introduced in close partnership with
national, Cantonal and local sporting bodies. The ANEP, an umbrella organization for
national associations, was renamed the Swiss Association of Sport (ASS) in 1977. It saw
itself as the spokesperson for amateur sport in dealings with the Confederation. In 1996, in
conjunction with the COS and the EFGSM, it created the National Committee for Elite Sport
(CNSE) in order to set up a national coach training scheme by sharing costs and pooling
skills. Similarly, several other federal and national sports programmes were carried out on
the basis of public-private (associations) partnerships, particularly for implementing the
sport-for-adults policy (Blanc 1997).
The reorganizations of the 1980s and 1990s
The period of the 1980s and 1990s included a number of important turning points in Swiss
policies for the development (promotion) of sport in that the political-administrative arrangements (Knoepfel et al. 2007) were completely transformed by the abolition, creation or
reorganization of several public sports bodies and private associations. The period was also
marked by a growth in political (and economic) interest in sport which led, for example, to an
increase in the number of sports-related questions and motions being placed before the
federal parliament. There was also a substantial increase in federal expenditure on sport,
which rose from CHF 48 million in 1980 to CHF 134 million in 2000 (AFF 2003).

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International Journal of Sport Policy

103

In 1984, the EFGS was transferred to the Federal Department of the Interior, thereby
allowing sport to emerge from the influence of the army and join the department responsible
for both health and education. The following year, Heinz Keller, the head of sport teaching at
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, was appointed as director of the EFGS.
He would occupy the post for 20 years and make a profound mark on Swiss sports policies
(Keller 2005). In 1988, the EFGS was renamed the Macolin Federal School of Sport
(EFSM), abandoning, like the CFGS a year later, any reference to gymnastics, which was
now considered a sport like any other.
During Heinz Kellers term in office, the EFSMs budget was doubled as it expanded its
programmes and was allocated new tasks. Thus Youth + Sport saw its management
strengthened, its range of courses expand, the age range of its beneficiaries widen from
1420 years old to 1020 years old and the number of its sporting branches grow. Youth
sport and adult sport were both included in new federal legislation. The EFSM was also
given responsibility for the fight against doping in Switzerland. The Tenero Youth Sports
Centre, a branch of the EFSM in the Italian speaking Canton of Tessins, was extended and
several new facilities were built at Macolin. The EFSM took responsibility for recommendations and standards for the construction of sports facilities, for assessing the deficit guarantees of large sports events for the Federal Council, and for preparing responses to
parliamentary questions and motions. Its director represented Switzerland at the Council
of Europe during discussions on conventions on the fight against doping and against
violence in sports stadiums, which were both ratified by Switzerland.
Following the poor performance of Swiss athletes at the Winter and Summer Olympics
in Albertville and Barcelona, questions began to be asked, especially by sports federations,
about the need to divide responsibility for Swiss sport between so many associative bodies.
A working group was set up and in 1996 the COS, the ASS and the CNSE (see above) were
merged into a single body called the Swiss Olympic Association (AOS), which served as
both a confederation of national federations and as the national Olympic committee for
Switzerland. Subsequent Olympic Games saw a marked improvement in the results obtained
by Swiss athletes (Table 2), although this cannot be entirely attributed to the merger. In 1999,
AOS was renamed Swiss Olympic, in order to give the organization a unique identity that
would be readily recognizable across Switzerlands three language regions. For similar
reasons, many national federations also adopted English names.
In 1997, during a reorganization of the federal administration and a redistribution of
departments (ministries), the EFSM was included in the new Department of Defence, Civil
Protection and Sport (DDPS), which had been tailor-made for Adolf Ogi, a federal councillor
(minister) and a former director of the Swiss Ski Federation. The EFSMs director and most
of its staff vigorously opposed this renewed association of sport with the military; however,
including the word sport in the name of a federal department was a sign of the growing
Table 2.

Summer
Total
Gold
Winter
Total
Gold

Number of Swiss medals at Winter and Summer Olympic Games (19882008).

1988

1992

4
0

1
1

15
5

3
1

1994

1996

1998

7
4
9
3

2000

2002

9
1
7
2

2004

2006

5
1
11
3

2008
6
2

14
5

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J-L. Chappelet

importance accorded to sport by the Swiss government. Two years later, the Federal Council
turned the EFSM into the Federal Office of Sport (OFSPO), in order to make official the
political tasks it had long carried out for the government. The school itself became a division
of OFSPO, to which was incorporated the Institute of Sports Science, the body responsible
for carrying out the scientific research policy mandated by the LEGS. At the same time, this
division became a school within the Bern University of Applied Sciences and renamed the
Haute cole Fdrale de Sport Macolin (HEFSM), so it could be integrated into the Swiss
university system.
Following the example given by the Confederation, a number of Cantons incorporated
the word sport in the name of cantonal departments. For example, the Valais created a
Department of Education, Culture and Sport (in 1997), with the aim of bringing the Winter
Olympics to Sion (its capital), first in 2002, and then in 2006, with federal, Cantonal and
municipal deficit guarantees (Chappelet 1999). The 1980s and 1990s also saw the appearance of dedicated offices for sport in around 20 cantons (BADAC 2001). For example, in the
Canton of Vaud, the Physical Education and Sport Service was successively part of the
Public Instruction Department, the Institutions and External Relations Department and,
currently, the Department of the Economy.
In addition to the five public policies enshrined in federal law (see section 2), the key
decades of the 1980s and 1990s also heralded at least three other policies carried out in
partnership with public and private organizations: the fight against doping, the training of
physical education teachers and assistance with the construction of nationally important
sports facilities. These new public policies are outlined below.
Following the rise in doping in the 1970s and 1980s, the EFSM set up an anti-doping
laboratory to test Swiss samples but it closed in 1986 due to receiving insufficient funding to
allow it to operate at an international standard. Subsequently, the Confederations efforts
concentrated on preventing doping. Drug testing did continue, however, thanks to an antidoping laboratory set up at the University of Lausanne with funding provided by the Canton
of Vaud. This laboratory soon received official accreditation and acquired a worldwide
reputation. In 2000, the LEGS was revised (article 11) to ban doping by athletes and to
institute penal sanctions against suppliers of drugs. (Until then, only the doping of horses
was banned under laws for the protection of animals!) Swiss Olympic took responsibility for
sporting sanctions, for which it introduced a set of regulations and set up an independent
supervisory committee elected by its General Assembly. This State-sports movement partnership to control doping is similar to the structure found on an international level with the
World Anti-Doping Agency (Chappelet 2002).
The training of gymnastics teachers was one of the original tasks of the EFGM.
However, in the 1970s and 1980s, the legal obligation to provide three hours of gymnastics
at primary and secondary schools led the cantonal universities of Basel, Berne, Geneva and
Lausanne, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich to set up training courses
for physical education and sports (EPS) teachers. In 1984, a clause setting minimum
requirements for EPS teacher training was added to the LEGS. These qualifications were
gradually transformed into university degrees (today at Bachelor and Master levels) provided by sports science institutes attached to human medicine or social sciences faculties in
cantonal universities. A network of these institutes was created to coordinate EPS studies in
Switzerland. The Universities of Fribourg, Neuchtel and St-Gall joined the network, as well
as the network of Swiss teacher training colleges. This is an example of a ConfederationCantons partnership within Switzerlands new university landscape.
Building national and regional sports facilities was a priority during the 1980s and
1990s. The Confederation provided subsidies, as allowed for under the LEGS, contributing

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International Journal of Sport Policy

105

CHF 33 million during the period 19741983. However, these subsidies were abolished in
1984, as a money-saving measure and because they had mostly been used for local projects
with no national outreach. In 1996, the Federal Council included an Outline for Nationally
Important Sports Facilities (CISIN) in a territorial development bill. Parliament agreed to an
initial sum of CHF 60 million in 1998, and then to CHF 20 million in 2000 to help finance
this scheme. It allows the Confederation to contribute between 15 and 20% of the funds
needed to develop facilities which OFSPO identified as important for the country following
an inventory of existing facilities. Funding was also to be provided by the Cantons,
municipalities, sports organizations, and even private promoters. It was in this way that
the football stadiums at Basel, Berne, Geneva and Zurich were built or renovated for UEFA
Euro 2008. Among the other projects that were partly financed, the largest amounts of
federal funding were provided for the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, the Eastern
Switzerland multi-sports centre in St-Gall, and the National Ice-Sports Centres at
Champry and Davos. All these projects were built and operated as public-private partnerships which were set up to implement this public policy of developing major sports facilities.
The current situation and the financing of Switzerlands sport policies
As discussed above, the end of the twentieth century was particularly important for the
reorganization of the political-administrative structure of Switzerlands sport policies. The
beginning of the twenty-first century has in turn been decisive for the drawing up and
adoption of a federal action plan designed to set priorities and allocate resources for these
policies. When it was created in 1999, OFSPO was given the task of preparing a strategy
document entitled Federal Councils Concept for a sport policy in Switzerland. This
Concept was drawn up in 2000 by a working group (which included the author) and
approved by the government during the last session of the year, presided over by Federal
Councillor Ogi in one of his final actions before he left office on 31st December.
The Federal Councils Concept document began by reviewing the place of sport in the
countrys social life, the principles of the governments sport policy and some pressing
problems facing physical and sports activities. It then set down five objectives. In order, they
are (OFSPO 2000, p. 4):
- Health: increase the percentage of the population that is physically active
- Education: use the possibilities offered by sport for educational purposes
- Performance: support young talent and elite sport
- Economics: harness the economic potential of sport events and organizations
- Sustainable development: make sport a learning ground for the sustainable
development of society
These objectives only include two of the original motives health and education from the
Federal Councils 1969 explanatory text for the LEGS (see section 2), and the target group
for these objectives was expanded to encompass the whole population. Defence and the
organization of leisure activities are not mentioned in the Concept, but the fifth motive of the
1969 explanatory text (the honourable representation of Switzerland in international competitions) was promoted to third place under the title Performance. Thus, the document
expresses the Confederations wish to give true support to top athletes, for example, through
a programme to foster the best sporting talent. The Concepts two final objectives are
completely new. First, the Confederation recognized the value of having major international
sports events and the headquarters of international sports organizations in Switzerland and

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106

J-L. Chappelet

decided to develop a coordinated programme for hosting them. Second, through sustainable
development the Confederation wished to raise the sporting worlds awareness of the issue
of sustainability, especially in terms of the use of space and the organization of events.
The Concept formed the basis for OFSPOs detailed action plan for six fields for the 2003
2006 legislative period. In total, almost CHF 4 million were allocated for that period (OFSPO
2002, p. 27). Following an assessment of on-going measures that had been carried out by the
Department (DDPS 2005), the Federal Council approved a further CHF 3.54 million to
implement measures during the period 20072010. Although these sums are relatively small
in relation to the Concepts stated ambitions, they represent an increase in funding during a
period of budgetary cuts. In addition, a master plan for research into sport and movement was
drawn up for 20042007. Inspired by the Federal Councils Concept, it poses 19 research
questions, seven of which were declared priorities by the CFS. Annual funding of approximately CHF 1.35 million is earmarked within OFSPOs budget for this research plan.
Table 3 shows the operating expenses, subsidies to third parties and investments made by
OFSPO since it was created. The sums in Table 3 represent almost all federal expenditure on
sport. The substantial increase in expenditure in 2007 and 2008 was due to the UEFA Euro
2008 competition, the largest sporting event ever held in Switzerland. OFSPO also generates
some income (around CHF 15 million per year) through renting out its facilities and
providing services, which offsets some of its expenditure.
The Federal Councils Concept calls upon new partnerships to meet the objectives it has
set for sport in Switzerland. One such example is the services contract between OFSPO and
Swiss Olympic for 20042007, which has been renewed for 20082011. Under the terms of
this contract, Swiss Olympic receives federal subsidies that it then redistributes to national
federations through 4year performance contracts that are starting to be set up with certain
pilot federations, such as the triathlon federation. Previously, subsidies were paid directly to
the federations based on recommendations from the CFS. Similar ideas drove the re-centring
of Sport-Totos operations in 2003. The lottery company now focuses on the distribution of
the (new) subsidies for sport arising from the two supra-Cantonal lotteries Swisslos and
Loterie Romande. Its own games, which were declining in popularity, were taken over by
these two large lotteries. Three quarters of this money more than CHF 121 million in 2008
goes to the Cantons; the remaining quarter goes to Swiss Olympic (mainly), and to the
National Football Association and the Swiss Ice Hockey League.
In addition to sports associations and other private organizations, the Federal Councils
Concept also involves local authorities. Half of Switzerlands Cantons, through their sports
departments or offices, have already drawn up their own sports policies (OFSPO 2006).
Twenty municipalities are taking part in a pilot scheme for setting up local sports networks
that will further the development of physical and sports activities by increasing cooperation
between public bodies, associations and commercial organizations. Furthermore, the Swiss
Sports Services Association (ASSS) provides a forum in which its members can share
experiences, particularly with respect to the construction and management of facilities. To
date, around 100 towns and cities have joined ASSS. Orientation documents, sometimes
labelled sports policies, have been drawn up and approved by several of these municipalities
Table 3.

OFSPO expenditure (20002008).

In CHF million

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Expenditure

109.4

117.9

124.0

133.1

132.3

125.6

125.2

175.9

206.5

Sources: AFF, State Accounts 20002008.

International Journal of Sport Policy

107

(for example, Lausanne). Municipal sports departments have seen their remits expand so
they now overlap with other local policies, such as social, leisure and local-development
policies (Chappelet 2004).
In 2006, Swiss public authorities spent approximately CHF 1.26 billion (AFF 2008) on
sport policies (excluding school sport), using funds provided by the federal government (CHF
130 million), the Cantons (CHF 157 million) and the municipalities (CHF 973 million).

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Current issues and new trends

When Heinz Keller retired in 2005, Matthias Remund took over the reins at OFSPO under
the supervision of a federal councillor who was much less interested in sport than Adolf Ogi
had been. As a result, OFSPO focused more on understanding the economic dimension of
the sports phenomenon in Switzerland to better justify public financial support of sport.
Several studies were commissioned from universities and private consultants, in order to
investigate issues such as sport GDP (OFSPO 2007a), sports facilities (2007b), and the
populations participation in sport (2008).
OFSPO also began a complete revision of the LEGS, which was renamed the Federal Law
for the Encouragement of Sport. A draft bill was sent to interested parties for consultation in
2008 and was presented to Parliament at the end of 2009. If it is passed, it will come into force
in 2011. Almost 40 years after the LEGS was passed in 1972, the semantics of the new bill
have changed, with the word gymnastics making way for the term sport and physical activity.
Article 1 of the bill describes the legislations four main objectives: a) increase physical and
sports activities at all ages; b) valorise the place of sport in education and training; c) create a
favourable environment for promoting elite sport and the new generation of top-level sportspeople; d) encourage behaviours that entrench the positive values of sport in society and that
fight against abuse and harassment. One of the bills main innovations is to extend the Youth
+ Sport programme to children as young as five (currently limited to 10 to 20 year olds), in
order to combat the relative sedentarism of young people. For the first time, support for elite
sport will be given a solid legal basis and backing for hosting international sports events in
Switzerland will be strengthened slightly. The bill also confirms the setting up of a national
anti-doping agency in partnership with Swiss Olympic and authorizes the communication of
the personal data needed for anti-doping checks.
With its concept for a sport policy, the Federal Council wanted to create a coordinated
national policy for hosting major sports events. Consequently, in 2004 it modified the order
governing the granting of deficit guarantees for these events, so event budgets could be
directly subsidized. It also amended the army and civil defence regulations, in order to
permit these services to help with the hosting of events. However, responsibility for
coordinating and monitoring international events was given to Swiss Olympic, which does
no more than list events and provide information about the availability of subsidies.
Nevertheless, in the 15-year period from 1995 to 2009 Switzerland hosted 110 world
championships and 67 European championships (Chappelet and Favre 2008).
It was only in 2009, after Switzerland had hosted UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2009 Ice
Hockey World Championships, that a true federal policy began to be discussed at an ad hoc
round table held at Macolin. For their part, some Swiss municipalities and Cantons have
followed the example of many other cities and regions around the world and introduced
policies for the regular hosting of sports events, in order to promote tourism and to market
the area. This is most notably the case of Lausanne, the Olympic headquarters and the capital
of the Vaud Canton, as well as of several mountain resorts (St-Moritz, Crans-Montana, etc.).
These are examples of new types of public policies (Chappelet 2006).

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Recent years have seen a growing realization of the need to better evaluate existing
public sports policies over and above internal evaluations, which must be treated with
caution for example, for the implementation of the Concept for a sport policy in
Switzerland (DDPS 2005). Such evaluations include that of the LaOla project, which is
designed to prevent dependency on tobacco, drugs and alcohol in sports clubs (HorberPapazian and Favre 2003). This project is part of the education objective of the Federal
Councils Concept and is carried out with finance and cooperation from the Federal Office of
Public Health (Tobacco Fund). Similarly, Junod and Sueur (2006) investigated the implementation of the CISIN programme for constructing major sports facilities with aid from the
Confederation and other private and public partners. Evaluating other sports projects run by
the Confederation, Cantons and municipalities would provide valuable information for
guiding public actions.
As outlined above, sports facilities and events have become an important part of Swiss
public sport policies on three levels. The public authorities invest large sums of money in
these two aspects (events cannot be hosted without facilities); hence it is quite natural that
specialists in public economics should take an interest in the profitability and sustainability
of such expenditure. However, this requires the production of true cost-benefit analyses
rather than just simple impact studies (Chappelet 2004). The first analysis of this type in
Switzerland was carried out by Junod and Gigandet (2007) for the St-Jakob Stadium in
Basel, which was built with financial support from the CISIN. The stadium, which is FC
Basels home ground, was enlarged to host games during Euro 2008, the largest sports event
ever held in Switzerland. Junod and Gigandets (2007) analysis showed that the balance
could only be considered favourable if the effects on the citys image were taken into
account, especially given the cost of enlarging the stadium. Other studies of this type are
needed to provide politicians with information about the value of investing in such major
sports facilities and subsidising sports events.
Conclusion
The objective of the present article was to show the progressive emergence of Swiss sport
policies and the maturity these policies have reached today. An initial federal policy
promoting gymnastics as preparation for military service in the 1870s gave way a century
later to policies introducing (in cooperation with the Cantons) physical and sports education
into schools and giving young people access to sport outside school. Today, Switzerlands
sport policies have continued to evolve to focus on developing elite sport at a national level
and on promoting physical activities for all on a local level in order to meet public health,
economic promotion and sustainable development objectives. The multiplication of the
objectives to be obtained through sport has led Switzerland to introduce an extensive and
diverse range of sport policies at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first
centuries. By doing so, the country is following the example set by many other European
countries over a much longer period.
This phenomenon provides fertile ground for researchers. Several authors, most notably
Houlihan (2005) and Henry (2001), have highlighted the fact that, in contrast to other social
sciences, the political sciences and analyses of public policies have been little used to study the
sports phenomenon, despite increasing national and local government involvement in sport in
developed countries. Sport is a marvellous field for testing theories drawn up in other sectors of
public action. It is also particularly interesting because, until recently, sport was a field in which
there was little state intervention in Switzerland. It is a sector where private, not-for-profit
organizations play an essential role and therefore it is a field in which publicprivate

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109

partnerships can be developed naturally. Sport policies also require special cooperation
between the Confederation, Cantons and municipalities, which is interesting from a federalism
point of view. The present article suggests a number of directions for future study with the hope
that they will inspire students and researchers in Switzerland, and therefore lead to a better
understanding of the development of sport by Switzerlands public authorities and ensure that
future measures meet future needs.

Note

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1.

The acronyms of the various bodies mentioned in the text are in French (one of Switzerlands two
official languages).

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