At Villa Gorica, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milojko Spajić, today presented sports federations and organisations with financial support agreements for 2026.
The Government of Montenegro has allocated a record seven million euros, of which almost €400,000 is designated for scholarships.
The President of the Montenegrin Olympic Committee, Dušan Simonović, addressed the ceremony, which was attended by representatives of federations and sports organisations.
“Through your personal engagement and your presence here today, esteemed Prime Minister, you have given all of us encouragement and hope that sport, as an exceptional and, I would say, the finest Montenegrin product, will be properly recognised and will not be treated merely as expenditure, recreation or entertainment, but as a serious activity that positively influences all segments of society – healthcare, education, culture, the economy and particularly tourism – as well as international promotion and the value-based development of younger generations. We hope that funding for sport in the years ahead will increase and that in this area too we will follow European trends and standards.
The Montenegrin Olympic Committee, as the highest sporting authority and umbrella sports organisation in Montenegro, has a clear institutional role in the development and protection of the sports system. The Government of Montenegro and the Ministry of Sports and Youth, as the executive authority, have the responsibility to create the environment and ensure the conditions for its development and impact in accordance with the Charter of the International Olympic Committee.
National Olympic Committees are one of the three pillars on which the International Olympic Movement, the highest sporting authority in the world, rests. Increasingly, its role and importance are being recognised here as well, as a promoter of Olympic values and its proper role within the sports system and society as a whole. A National Olympic Committee is not a sponsor, nor a mechanism for logistics, transport and accommodation, nor a federation of an individual sport, but an organisation that safeguards and promotes the universal values on which this world is founded.
On the basis of the good and partnership-based cooperation we have, founded on mutual respect for competences, open dialogue and respect for autonomy and independence, as well as shared responsibility for the long-term stability of the system, together we can build a stronger, more structured and more sustainable sports system.”
