Nine EU nations urge funding cuts for IOC, sports bodies over Russian readmissions

Nine European nations have asked the European Union to cut funding to sports bodies, including the International Olympic Committee, which let Russian and Belarusian athletes return to competition, Estonia’s Ministry of Culture said.

Addressed to European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Micallef, Tuesday’s proposal targets major bodies including the IOC, World Aquatics and the International Fencing Federation (FIE).

The move marks the strongest collective push yet by EU member states to use the bloc’s financial leverage against international sports bodies over the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes, setting up a potential confrontation between European governments and the Olympic movement ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

On July 7, the IOC executive board provisionally lifted its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and noted that previous restrictions on Russian athletes were no longer applicable.

Financial support programmes

The nine European nations — Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden — have called for these governing bodies to be excluded from the EU’s Erasmus+ and other financial support programmes.