IOC, Swiss Government Lifelines for Federations

(ATR) The IOC will help contribute to a $500 million fund to support Swiss based international federations and professional leagues suffering financial hardship due to the corona medical crisis.

The assistance through loans will be available to most of the federations domiciled in Switzerland. Big organizations such as FIFA, UEFA and the IOC will be excluded from applying for the financial relief.

The biggest chunk of the money will go to the Swiss football and ice hockey leagues which have been affected by the cancellation of matches due to the coronavirus countermeasures. Around $350 million is available.

About $150 million will go to the international federations, any number of them suffering from the loss of income due to canceled events and other difficulties resulting from the pandemic. The IOC is supposed to contribute to half of the fund with the remaining coming from the cantons hosting those sport federations.

About 60 international federations and related organizations are based in Switzerland representing around 2000 workers.

"The IOC thanks the Swiss Federal Council for the offer to support the international sports federations jointly with the IOC," said IOC president Thomas Bach.

"We are fully committed to successfully delivering this international sports federation support program in co-operation with the Swiss authorities. This initiative is a great acknowledgement of the importance of the international sports federations and sport."

Federal Councilor Viola Amherd said of the aid package: "Just how important sport is for our society is evident every day, especially now. More than 100,000 jobs are connected with sport, and it contributes a total of 1.7 percent to the gross domestic product. But the significance of sport goes far beyond the economic aspect. Sport is elementary for society and living together in Switzerland. And not least for health," she said.

Reported by Heinz Peter Kreuzer .