Youth Club League Support Project
Sports Organizations Announced
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will support the operation of youth leagues for the flag football and lacrosse sports organizations, which are official events for the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics. The billiards sports organization, a new official event for the 2030 Doha Asian Games, was also included in the support targets.
On the 11th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the results of the '2025 Youth Club League Support Project' public contest. The Youth Club League Support Project is a program that supports the operation of sports club leagues by sport, as well as education and cultural programs for youth.
The contest targets sports organizations of Olympic and Asian Games events. To expand opportunities for students to experience sports with relatively low existing participation, this year’s contest was divided into 'General League (operating 50 or more leagues)' and 'Small-scale League (operating fewer than 50 leagues)' categories. Applications were accepted accordingly. In addition, not only organizations affiliated with the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee but also those registered with international federations were allowed to apply.
As a result, a total of 12 sports organizations applied: 7 sports in the General League and 5 sports in the Small-scale League.
Following evaluation, 8 sports organizations were selected as subsidy recipients: in the General League, football (soccer), baseball, basketball, tennis, and billiards; in the Small-scale League, ice hockey, flag football, and lacrosse. Ice hockey, a winter sport, was selected for the first time this year. Additionally, flag football and lacrosse were newly selected as subsidy recipients.
Flag football is a sport similar in rules to American football, the most popular sport in North America, but unlike American football, tackling is prohibited, significantly reducing the risk of injury. Each team has 5 players, fewer than the 11 players in American football.
Lacrosse is a ball game originally enjoyed by Native Americans in North America, where players use a cross (a long racket with a net) to score by placing a rubber ball into the opponent’s goal located at each end of the field. The team with the most points wins.
The total budget for this year’s contest project is 8.3 billion KRW. Starting this year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to grant subsidies directly to the sports organizations to strengthen their autonomy and accountability. On the 18th, the ministry will conduct training on project guidelines and subsidy execution for the representatives of the selected sports organizations.
The youth club league is also called the 'i-League.' The i-League represents 'infinite,' 'imagine,' and 'impress,' meaning 'a league that opens infinite possibilities for children, where children imagine, dream, and are inspired in the youth league.'
A policy official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated, "Through the Youth Club League Support Project, we will expand the base of grassroots sports across various disciplines and establish a foundation for promising talents discovered in grassroots sports to continue their careers in professional sports. We will also encourage operating organizations to gradually increase their self-funding ratio by raising participation fees and corporate sponsorships."
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