Perciun: Moldova’s Sports Prize Funding Rose to 37M Lei

Perciun: funding for sports awards has risen from 4.4 million to 37 million lei in five years

The Minister for Education and Research, Dan Perciun, responded following Sunday’s protest by athletes and coaches. He says that the authorities do not intend to abandon the new rules on awards for sporting achievements and maintains that public funds must be allocated on the basis of clear criteria.

Dan Perchun

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“I want to make this very clear: we are not cutting funding for sport. On the contrary, the budget for rewarding sporting achievements has increased more than eightfold, from 4.4 million lei in 2021 to 37 million lei in 2025. However, we cannot award the same level of prize money for a medal won in an extremely competitive world-class competition as for a result achieved in a circuit with far fewer competitors and different organisational standards,” said Dan Perciun.

The Minister states that, over the past two years, the Ministry of Education and Research has analysed the standard of international competitions, the way federations are run, the refereeing systems and compliance with anti-doping rules.

“Some federations have got the message and are shifting their focus towards recognised events. Others have decided to exert public pressure, in the hope that we will revert to the old rules. We will not revert. We will invest more in sport, in athletes, in coaches and in performance, but every leu must be backed by clear criteria, verifiable results and genuine competition,” the minister added.

We would like to remind you that, on Sunday, several athletes, coaches, parents and members of the sporting community protested once again, expressing their dissatisfaction with the way the sports sector is managed and with the funding allocated to federations and athletes.

On 9 September, the government approved amendments to the financial regulations governing sporting activities. The amendments relate, in particular, to the system of state sports awards. Consequently, results achieved in non-Olympic sports, as well as awards given to coaches and athletes in these sports, are excluded from the state-funded awards scheme. The authorities argue that non-Olympic sports do not enjoy official recognition by the International Olympic Committee.

This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.

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