The Swedish Sports Confederation (Swedish: Riksidrottsförbundet, RF) is the umbrella organisation of the Swedish sports movement founded in 1903. Through its member organisations, it has three million members in 22,000 clubs. Its present chair, since 2024, is Anna Iwarsson.
The Swedish Sports Confederation has its offices at Idrottens hus by Skanstull in Stockholm.
History
Foundation
The Swedish Sports Confederation was founded at the Royal Central Gymnastics Institute on 31 May 1903 under the name Svenska Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningarnas Riksförbund (lit. 'Swedish Gymnastics Clubs and Sports Clubs National Federation'). 35 sports clubs were present at the founding meeting for the organisation that soon organised itself as a confederation of specific sports governing bodies. The first chairman of the board was Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf.
2018 hacking
In 2018, the Swedish Sports Confederation reported the Russian-linked group Fancy Bear was responsible for an attack on its computers, targeting records of athletes' doping tests.
Admission of esports
The Swedish Sports Confederation held a vote on admitting esports into the federation with a negative result. This had an adverse effect on the Dota 2 esports event The International 2020, which was originally planned to be hosted at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm before being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because the event could not be covered by the exemptions from pandemic restrictions in the country that other sporting events had, it was moved to Romania in 2021.
Karl-Erik Nilsson
UEFA vice-president Karl-Erik Nilsson was elected chair of the organisation in early 2023, but left after only half a year after UEFA had admitted Russian youth teams to their tournaments.
Tasks
According to the website, their tasks are to:
- Speak on behalf of the united sports movement in contacts with politicians, the government and other institutions/organisations
- Coordinate the sports movement in fields like research and development
- Provide service in areas where these cannot or don't want to build up their own competence
- In certain areas act in place of the government, e g through distributing governmental grants to sports
Member organisations
Specialised sports federations affiliated to the Swedish Sports Confederation:
- † also member of the Swedish Olympic Committee
Further on, the confederation is organised into 19 districts.
Chairpeople
The Confederation has had the following chairpeople:
- Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf (later Gustaf VI Adolf; 1904-1933)
- Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (1933–1947)
- Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland (1947–1991)
- Arne Ljungqvist (1991–2001)
- Gunnar Larsson (2001–2005)
- Karin Mattsson Weijber (2005–2015)
- Björn Eriksson (2015–2023)
- Karl-Erik Nilsson (2023)
- Anna Iwarsson (acting, 2023–2024)
- Anna Iwarsson (2024–present)
References
See also
- Riksidrottsgymnasium
External links
- Riksidrottsförbundet (in Swedish)
