The alpine national team is struggling with financial problems and a majority of the skiers have to finance their ventures themselves this winter.
Therefore, the Swedish Olympic Committee, SOK, has pushed for money with the Olympics in Milan/Cortina 2026 in mind.
According to SOK’s sports director Fredrik Joulamo, it is more than five million kroner for the coming season. He estimates that this corresponds to 20 percent of the total Alpine cost.
SOK’s job to help
At the same time, the ski association is sitting on equity of SEK 110 million. It is money invested in securities and funds that corresponds to almost half of the association’s total turnover.
Fredrik Joulamo is clear that the SOK’s job is to help Olympic sports federations financially. But questions arise as to why such a “prosperous association” does not take more of its own money.
– Right now we are taking on SOK from our own capital, which is worked up to support to a greater degree. And we see that there are sports federations that could do it to a greater extent as well. Among other things, in the ski association, he says.
According to Joulamo, there are other associations that are on their knees and have no equity to speak of. As he sees it, equity is there to be consumed.
– If I speak for SOK, money does no good if it is in an account or in a treasure chest. I think the same also applies in the vast majority of special sports associations. That if a federation builds capital, it must be returned to the sport.
The Skiing Association responds: “Several who have challenges”
The ski association’s general secretary Pernilla Bonde defends the ski association’s high share of equity. She emphasizes that it is important to have money saved for worse times.
– We have a WC ahead of us in Falun (in cross-country skiing in 2027). We have a situation in the outside world with war and have had a pandemic. And we have preparedness in case we lose major sponsors. We have to take account of all those things, she says.
According to Bonde, the ski association has invested a total of eight million in the alpine branch in the last three years. And she believes that the association must look at the whole.
– The branch that has contributed to the largest part of the equity is cross-country skiing. Of our other eleven branches, there are several that have challenges, that would need to grow and receive more resources.
According to the ski association’s own financial policy, which was drawn up by the association’s board, the equity must correspond to at least 25 percent of the net turnover in the association’s group, i.e. 25 percent of the total turnover after tax.
In recent years, that figure has been well above the minimum requirement: 69 percent (2024), 74 percent (2023), 77 percent (2022) and 87 percent (2021).
According to the financial policy, the association’s own capital must be used as reserve capital for “unforeseen events and identified risks, as well as provide the opportunity for the business to allocate resources over time.”
Looking at the total turnover before tax, the equity in the group in recent years has corresponded to 45 percent (2024), 47 percent (2023), 51 percent (2022) and 52 percent (2021).
In addition to the ski association, the group also includes Ski Team Sweden AB, Svenska Skidspelen Events AB, Svenska Skidspelen AB and Ski-VM i Falun 2027 AB.
According to the ski association’s general secretary Pernilla Bonde, the requirement of at least 25 percent equity also applies to the individual sports within the association.
And there she means that the alpine branch has not lived up to that requirement in recent years and that it has therefore been necessary to tighten the budget.