National strategy(ies)

In BiH, there is no unified state-level strategy addressing youth sports, fitness, and physical activity. Institutions primarily responsible for this area operate at the entity and canton levels, while the BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs has only a limited coordinating role at the state level. This fragmentation results in an uneven approach to youth sports and recreation across the country.

A significant step forward was achieved in FBiH as the FBiH Government adopted the Proposal of the Youth Strategy of FBiH 2025–2034, based on the proposal of the FBiH Ministry of Culture and Sports. This strategic document, the first of its kind in FBiH, identifies sports and physical activity as key priorities for improving youth health and well-being. It outlines concrete measures to improve infrastructure, build human capacities, and increase access to sports opportunities in both urban and rural areas.

Among the greatest challenges in youth sports and physical activity in BiH are the unregulated legal framework, the absence of a strategic approach, and insufficient institutional capacities. Further obstacles include weak inter-institutional coordination between different levels of government, limited sports budgets, and a lack of qualified personnel in sports organizations. Many sports clubs and facilities operate on a commercial basis, which makes access difficult for youth from socially vulnerable groups.

Nonetheless, 2025 brought positive developments through regional and international projects. The “Sport for Development” initiative, supported by GIZ, has been implemented in BiH and the Western Balkans, aiming to educate youth workers, coaches, and teachers on the importance of sports as a tool for social inclusion, health, and community development. The initiative has produced manuals and organized trainings promoting gender equality, intercultural dialogue, and social cohesion through physical activity.

Also, the Youth Games 2025, held in more than 400 municipalities across BiH, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia, gathered over 340,000 children and young people. The Games emphasized the importance of healthy lifestyles, particularly promoting the inclusion of girls in sports, with a goal of engaging more than 25,000 girls in futsal and other disciplines (UEFA Foundation, 2025).

BD BiH, as a special administrative unit, has its own budget for sports and youth. However, no local strategy has yet been adopted to systematically address young people’s access to sports. Infrastructure is often outdated and capacities insufficient, particularly in the rural parts of the District.

Despite certain efforts, BiH continues to face a lack of professionalization in the sports sector and the absence of clear investment guidelines. According to the OECD SIGMA report (2024), problems such as fragmented governance, overlapping competences, and weak institutional capacities further complicate the situation and reduce the impact of individual interventions in youth sports, recreation, and physical health.

Based on available information and 2025 trends, it can be concluded that stronger political will and systemic solutions are needed to make sports and physical activity universally accessible and sustainable tools for improving youth health and social inclusion in BiH.

Promoting and supporting sport and physical activity among young people

Currently, there are no specific support measures aimed exclusively at promoting and supporting sports and physical activity among youth at the state, entity, or local level. While funds exist to support sports associations at the entity and state levels, including grants from the BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs and sectoral ministries at lower levels, these are not specifically directed toward youth sports. Most sports clubs in BiH are open to youth and encourage their participation in training and competitions, but this largely takes place without systemic support in the form of strategic programs or targeted public policies.

Between 2024 and 2025, no national strategy for youth sports development was adopted. Where they exist, sports strategies are adopted at the entity, canton, or municipal level and are often focused on elite rather than recreational or youth sports. In addition, the lack of an overarching strategy and horizontal institutional coordination results in overlaps, uneven distribution of funds, and no clear criteria for monitoring the impact of investments in youth sports on well-being. Financing for youth sports activities mainly depends on local grants and international donations. Entity institutions such as the RS Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports and the FBiH Ministry of Culture and Sports annually issue public calls for co-financing youth and sports activities. For example, in its 2023 budget, the FBiH earmarked 400,000 BAM for youth projects in sports and culture.

International programs such as Erasmus+ Sport are an important source of funding for sports projects and capacity building for youth sports organizations in BiH. The Erasmus+ 2021–2027 program, through Key Action 2, allows BiH organizations to participate in projects promoting healthy lifestyles and youth participation in sports at both local and European levels.

Physical education in schools 

Physical and health education in primary and secondary schools is regulated by the Framework Law on Primary and Secondary Education in BiH, which guarantees students two mandatory weekly physical education classes. However, detailed regulation and implementation fall under the jurisdiction of entities, cantons, and BD.

In RS, curricula are centralized and available through the RS Pedagogical Institute. In FBiH, only a Framework Curriculum for Nine-year Primary Education has been adopted, while cantons further define the content of physical education. The BD BiH also has its own education system, implementing a similar model with two mandatory weekly physical activities.

In practice, the quality and availability of physical and health education vary considerably. Key challenges include a lack of adequate infrastructure (gyms, equipment), insufficiently trained staff, and irregular physical education classes. Many schools share gyms with other institutions, and physical activity is often reduced due to other school obligations or staff shortages.

Research conducted in 2024 by organizations such as Association XY, UNICEF, and local sports federations highlighted the high level of interest among youth in physical activity, over 70% of young people expressed a desire to engage in sports regularly, but also revealed numerous barriers. The most frequently cited obstacles were high membership fees in sports clubs, equipment costs, and the limited availability of free or affordable sports opportunities, particularly in rural areas.

Within projects such as EU4Youth, EU4Health, and local initiatives funded through IPA funds, 2024–2025 saw pilot programs introduced for digital fitness tracking, integration of healthy lifestyles into school curricula, and support for school sports sections. However, these programs still lack systemic support and formal integration into education policies at the state level.

Overall, the promotion of sports and physical activity among youth in BiH requires stronger inter-sectoral cooperation, particularly between the education and sports sectors, as well as systemic financial support, community involvement, and free access to sports facilities. Moreover, data collection on youth participation in physical activities needs to be improved to enable evidence-based policymaking.

Collaboration and partnerships

The Youth Games are the largest amateur sports event for children and youth in BiH, Croatia, and Serbia. Since their establishment in 1996 in Split, the Games have gathered more than 2.5 million participants from the three countries up until 2023. The core idea of the Youth Games has been to provide high school students with the opportunity to participate in organized sports competitions and free extracurricular activities that promote healthy lifestyles, tolerance, and mutual understanding.

Participants from all involved countries are entitled to free participation in competitions, while the most successful teams and individuals earn the right to compete in the International Final, which includes an organized multi-day stay—a so-called “mini vacation”—as a reward for their achievements. The Youth Games represent a positive example of regional cooperation and the promotion of mass sports among youth, free of financial barriers to participation.

The largest international sports event organized in BiH since the 1984 Winter Olympics was the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in 2019. Hosted by Sarajevo and East Sarajevo, the Organizing Committee was formed in cooperation with the BiH Olympic Committee and with the support of the BiH Presidency. The Festival was held from February 9 to 16, 2019, under the slogan “Creating Together”, and the opening ceremony gathered more than 25,000 visitors.

A total of 904 young athletes from 46 European countries competed in 8 sports and 32 disciplines across seven venues. EYOF strengthened BiH’s international sports image and demonstrated the country’s institutional capacity to organize large sports events, including youth volunteer mobilization and the development of local sports infrastructure.

At the European level, one of the key instruments for strengthening cooperation and partnerships in the sports sector is the Erasmus+ Sport program. During 2024 and 2025, several sports clubs and youth organizations from BiH actively participated in projects under Key Action 2 – capacity building in the field of sports. The program enables experience exchange, professional development, the creation of transnational partnerships, and the implementation of joint sports initiatives between organizations from BiH and EU member states.

Erasmus+ also supports initiatives promoting inclusive sports, gender equality, physical activity for marginalized youth groups, as well as digitalization and innovation in sports management. These opportunities are particularly relevant for youth sports associations and NGOs working in the field of non-formal education and healthy youth development.