The increase in the grant amounts aims to foster the sense of economic stability of athletes representing Poland at major international sports events. It will facilitate the process of national team members’ preparations for international championships, and will create conditions for achieving further success and winning points in international competitions. It will also contribute to the popularisation of sport among people with disabilities,

- said Minister for Sport and Tourism Danuta Dmowska-Andrzejuk.

Stabilisation and motivation

The amended regulation will increase monthly sports grants paid to athletes for their achievements in Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Deaflympics, World Championships and European Championships in the senior, youth and junior age categories, in sports that are on the programme of Olympic Games, Paralympic Games or Deaflympics.

The current grant amounts were introduced in 2012 and 2017 and, since then, have remained unchanged. The amendment provides for amounts adjusted to the current costs of living in Poland, including salary levels and prices of goods and services.

In addition to providing financial support to athletes, the grants will also serve as a motivating factor. Thus, the largest increase will apply to grants for athletes who have won medals at Olympic Games, Paralympic Games or Deaflympics.

We want to achieve a constant motivating effect by awarding the monthly sports grants. Therefore, the grant amounts increase together with the prestige of individual sports events and the level of sporting competitions,

- emphasised Minister Dmowska-Andrzejuk.

New grant amounts

The change will introduce new multiplication factors by which the grant calculation basis may be multiplied. The basis, set out in the Act on Sport, is PLN 2,300. The new grant may not exceed 5.5 times this amount.

An athlete who has won a gold medal at Olympic Games, Paralympic Games or Deaflympics will receive, starting from 2024, a monthly sports grant of up to 5.5 times the calculation basis (i.e. up to PLN 3,220 more than in 2023). For silver medal winners the increase will be PLN 2,990, and for bronze medal winners it will be PLN 2,645. Detailed information on the amounts of individual categories of monthly sports grants in Olympic sports is provided in the aforementioned regulation.

In determining the grant amounts, the Minister of Sport and Tourism took into account: the accumulated inflation since the introduction of the currently paid amounts; the level at which given international championships are held; the impact of the place won by the athlete on Poland’s position in the international ranking; and the costs of athletes’ preparations for the competitions, which increase together with the level at which the competitions are held.

The change of the grant amounts will not place an additional financial burden on the state budget. The annual cost of the increased grants is estimated at PLN 16 million to be paid from the budget of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism (an increase in the outlays by about 60%). In the last two years, the overall amounts of grants paid in Olympic sports exceeded: PLN 27.4 million in 2021 (811 grant recipients) and PLN 26.5 million in 2022 (1141 grant recipients).