News – Russian Government

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Minister of Sports Mikhail Degtyarev summed up the results of the federal project “Sport is the norm of life” within the framework of the national project “Demography”. The total amount of funding for the program amounted to 141.4 billion rubles, over 80% of which was aimed at the development of sports infrastructure.

The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that the project was a serious step in the development of mass sports and elite sports.

“Over the five years of implementation of the federal project “Sport is the norm of life,” about 500 sports facilities were built, hundreds of sites were modernized, and tens of thousands of specialists were trained. More than 23 million Russians participate in the GTO movement, revived on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 14 million of them have already successfully met the standards. This is an important step towards achieving our goal: by 2030, at least 70% of Russian citizens should regularly engage in physical education and sports,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko.

The sports infrastructure created over these years covers all regions of Russia. For example, a unique rowing slalom complex opened in Ufa, the region’s first indoor football arena opened in Novokuznetsk, and a training center for adaptive sports “Parus” began operating in Dzerzhinsk. Each facility has become not just a place for training, but a center of attraction, uniting people of different ages and abilities.

Minister of Sports Mikhail Degtyarev emphasized that the project influenced not only the sports infrastructure, but also the approach to personnel training.

“During the program, more than 62 thousand specialists, including coaches, instructors and event organizers, received training and advanced training. This is a guarantee of a high level of sports services, which are now available to people throughout the country. This task was set before us by Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin,” said the head of the department.

Another important achievement was the introduction of a social tax deduction for physical education and health services, effective from 2022. This made it possible for Russians to compensate for part of the costs of playing sports, which is especially important for families with children. On average, the volume of returns amounted to 19.5 thousand rubles. At the same time, the number of applications for compensation in 2024 increased by 70%, and the total amount of the declared refund exceeded 8 billion rubles.

Mikhail Degtyarev added that the completion of the project is not the final point.

“We have laid the foundation for further work. The created infrastructure, involved people and trained specialists – this will become the basis for the future development of Russian sports,” the minister said.

One of the key performance indicators was cash execution of the budget. In 2024, the Russian Ministry of Sports reached a record level of 99.66%. This result became possible thanks to work to improve the financial discipline of Russian regions during the construction of sports facilities – from capital to modular structures and smart sites. In previous periods, the regions’ budget utilization rates for these purposes were lower. For comparison: in 2021, the department’s budget was executed by 93.23%, in 2022 – by 96.53%, in 2023 – by 99.35%.