The Government is finalizing the launch of the Office for the Promotion of Catalan Sports Teams, one of the commitments included in Salvador Illa’s investiture pact between PSC and ERC. Both parties will detail in the coming days the fine print of the new entity, such as the final wording of the agreement and the format of its public presentation. The Department of Sports has already communicated to the Superior Sports Council (CSD) the Government’s intention, according to EL PAÍS. The goal of the socialists and republicans is for the new entity to start before summer and for the Government to certify it as a Government Agreement in an Executive Council.
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According to initial forecasts, the office will initially depend on the Consell Català de l’Esport and aims to offer institutional support and accompaniment to Catalan federations that want to project themselves internationally. The Department of Sports envisions its creation with one of the technicians from the Consell itself in charge. The intention is for two to three people to work there.
The Office will have a budget of at least 100,000 euros, as Álvarez already announced in a parliamentary session, but the amount could increase if the accounts receive republican approval. The goal of Sports is for the Office to get underway as soon as possible and to define its structure as more resources can be allocated. Sources from both parties admit that the launch of the entity does not depend on the outcome of budget negotiations, although they acknowledge that the February crisis, when ERC rejected the budget project, delayed its progress.
The investiture agreement specifies that those federations established before the corresponding state federation have the possibility to develop their international projection, according to the social and historical roots of the territory. The state law specifies that these must have previously been part of the international federations. In this regard, the Department of Sports has already conveyed its intentions to the CSD, which is also responsible for international promotion. The CSD’s willingness was key to the international recognition of the Basque Pelota Federation because it understood that this discipline was directly linked to the sports fabric of the Basque Country. Currently, Catalonia has representation in international bodies in minority sports, such as korfball (which will participate in the European Championships in the Czech Republic in October) or pitch and putt, among other disciplines. In mass sports, it only holds friendly matches, the last being the one the Catalan football team played on November 18 against Palestine in Montjuïc.
The Office for the Promotion of Catalan Sports Teams was one of the requirements that ERC demanded in 2024 to agree to Illa’s arrival at the Generalitat. This issue has been widely advocated by the republicans, who between the late 90s and early 2000s experienced its peak through the Plataforma Pro Seleccions Catalanes. After a decade in a secondary spotlight during the procés, a situation that Álvarez himself questioned in an interview with EL PAÍS – “the deterioration of the grassroots Catalan teams has been significant; at a certain political moment,” he said – now ERC places it back on the political agenda alongside the PSC, and the Government reinforces Illa’s will to “fulfill what was agreed.”
“Considering the vitality of federated Catalan sport, the historical tradition and social roots, as well as the high participation and territorial reach, work will continue for the maximum recognition of Catalan sport at all levels,” specifies the investiture text. Under this premise, roller hockey already achieved international recognition in 2005, which was later revoked.
Now the Department intends to “accompany” the federations that aspire to take a step forward, as Álvarez himself stated in the aforementioned interview: “We want to make the journey with the federations. We do not want to impose anything if they do not want it. Some smaller federations, such as pelota, futsal, or hockey, have more ground to cover; and we could help them, but we also do not want to create problems. Competing internationally requires economic efforts,” he assured.
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