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30 million PLN for volleyball, handball and basketball academies. A new programme of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism

17.06.2026

The certification programme for handball, volleyball and basketball academies and clubs was the main topic of a press conference attended by Minister for Sport and Tourism Jakub Rutnicki on Wednesday, 17 June in Warsaw. The meeting was also attended by Sławomir Szmal, President of the Polish Handball Federation, Sebastian Świderski, President of the Polish Volleyball Federation and Grzegorz Bachański, President of the Polish Basketball Federation.

From left to right: Sebastian Świderski, President of the Polish Volleyball Federation, Sławomir Szmal, President of the Polish Handball Federation, Jakub Rutnicki, Minister of Sport and Tourism and Grzegorz Bachański, President of the Polish Basketball Federation holding three balls: vollayball ball, handball ball and baskeball ball.

The new programme aims to establish a national network of volleyball, handball and basketball academies operating according to uniform training and infrastructure standards, at three advancement levels.

The certification programme is a great initiative for supporting team sports, 

– said Jakub Rutnicki, Minister for Sport and Tourism during the press conference. 

The programme is addressed to national-level non-governmental organisations focused on promoting the said sports. The funds may be spent on running sports training, monitoring training processes, organising sports camps, purchasing sports equipment and conducting promotion activities. The programme is aimed at children and young people up to the age of 19. 

We want to invest in our young athletes and make them ready to compete in the top leagues. For this, appropriate support is needed,

– continued the minister. 

Within the programme, there are three options of financial support to a team at a sports academy or club, depending on the awarded certificate. Maximum grant amounts: 

  • 10,000 PLN for the middle certification level (bronze), 
  • 15,000 PLN for the high certification level (silver), 
  • 25,000 PL for the top certification level (gold). 

Within the programme, the allocations will be as follows: 10 million PLN for the Polish Handball Federation, 13 million PLN for the Polish Volleyball Foundation and 7 million PLN for the Polish Basketball Federation. According to the applications submitted during the call for proposals, the programme will cover up to 350 academies and over 1,400 teams. The expected number of the participants is 18,740. The number of the teams, academies and participants can change after the updating of the proposals. 

In 2025, a pilot edition of the programme was carried out, which focused exclusively on handball. 3,382,000 PLN was allocated to 115 handball academies gathering over 2,100 participants up to the age of 19. 

The certification programme is one of several programmes of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism aimed at developing Polish players and increasing their numbers in the senior leagues. Earlier in May, a programme called ‘Nasi na Boisko [Our Kids to the Pitch] – A Development Path for Young Footballers’ was launched. 
 

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