The Swedish Sports Confederation (, RF) is the umbrella organisation of the
Swedish sports movement founded in 1903. Through its member organisations, it has three million members in 22,000 clubs. Its present chair, since 2024, is
Anna Iwarsson.
The Swedish Sports Confederation has its offices at
Idrottens hus by
Skanstull in Stockholm.
History
Foundation
The Swedish Sports Confederation was founded at the
Royal Central Gymnastics Institute on 31 May 1903 under the name ''Svenska Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningarnas Riksförbund'' ().
35 sports clubs were present at the founding meeting for the organisation that soon organised itself as a confederation of specific sports governing bodies. The first chairman of the board was
Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf.
[
]
2018 hacking
In 2018, the Swedish Sports Confederation reported the Russian-linked group Fancy Bear
Fancy Bear is a Russian cyber espionage group. American cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has stated with a medium level of confidence that it is associated with the Russian military intelligence agency GRU. The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Offic ...
was responsible for an attack on its computers, targeting records of athletes' doping tests.
Admission of esports
The Swedish Sports Confederation held a vote on admitting esports
Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...
into the federation with a negative result. This had an adverse effect on the ''Dota 2
''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve Corporation, Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created Mod (video gaming), mod for Blizzard Entertainment's ''War ...
'' esports event The International 2020, which was originally planned to be hosted at the Avicii Arena
Avicii Arena, originally known as the Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as the Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; ), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockho ...
in Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
before being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Because the event could not be covered by the exemptions from pandemic restrictions in the country that other sporting events had, it was moved to Romania in 2021.
Karl-Erik Nilsson
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
vice-president Karl-Erik Nilsson was elected chair of the organisation in early 2023, but left after only half a year after UEFA had admitted Russian youth teams to their tournaments.[
]
Tasks
According to the website, their tasks are to:
*Speak on behalf of the united sports movement in contacts with politicians, the government and other institutions/organisations
*Coordinate the sports movement in fields like research and development
*Provide service in areas where these cannot or don't want to build up their own competence
*In certain areas act in place of the government, e g through distributing governmental grants to sports
Member organisations
Specialised sports federations affiliated to the Swedish Sports Confederation:
: also member of the Swedish Olympic Committee
Further on, the confederation is organised into 19 districts.
Chairpeople
The Confederation has had the following chairpeople:Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten
Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (Gustaf Adolf Oscar Fredrik Arthur Edmund; 22 April 1906 – 26 January 1947) was a Swedish prince who for most of his life was second in the line of succession to the Swedish throne. He was the eldest ...
(1933–1947)
* Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland (1947–1991)
* Arne Ljungqvist (1991–2001)
* Gunnar Larsson (2001–2005)
*Karin Mattsson Weijber (2005–2015)
* Björn Eriksson (2015–2023)
* Karl-Erik Nilsson (2023)
* Anna Iwarsson (acting, 2023–2024)
*Anna Iwarsson (2024–present)
References
See also
* Riksidrottsgymnasium
External links
Riksidrottsförbundet
{{Authority control
1903 establishments in Sweden
Organizations established in 1903