New strategy

“We need to find a vision for sport”

Martin Zauner (in the foreground) and Co. presented the 2036 state sports strategy.(Bild: Land Salzburg/Neumayr/Leopold)

With a new long-term strategy, sport in Salzburg is to be steered in the right direction - whether at grassroots, junior or elite level. To this end, the province and the politician responsible, Martin Zauner, are also enlisting the help of scientists. 

A lot is going well in Salzburg sport, but a lot is not. Want an example? At the Olympic Games in Paris, the local delegation will be smaller than ever before. In his first year in office, Provincial Councillor Martin Zauner (FPÖ) has also recognized that adjustments and new ideas are needed in order to be fit for the future - whether at grassroots, junior or elite level.

"We have to find a vision of how we can give sport a higher status in the province again," says the 53-year-old. Parochial thinking, which is still widespread in Salzburg and Austria, should be a thing of the past. The "Provincial Sports Strategy 2036" should lead to this and more. The "clever minds of the country" are working on this, as Zauner puts it. Politicians are providing 120,000 euros for this. 

"We have to find a common vision of how we can give sport a higher status in the state again.

Sportlandesrat Martin Zauner (FPÖ)

The development of the long-term strategy is being scientifically supported by the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS). The five-person team, led by Minas Dimitriou, will carry out extensive surveys of those involved in sport, as well as citizens. "The state sports strategy should open up new opportunities," says Dimitriou, who sees sport as a cross-sectional issue in society. 

Many unanswered questions await
Various lessons are to be learned from the results. Which systems work, where improvements are needed and many other questions should be answered. In order to subsequently bring more talent back into elite sport and to the Olympics. "There's a problem somewhere," says Zauner. But certainly not only there.