Hungary: Potentials for Civil Initiatives in Sports

The social functions of sports clubs were influenced by the changes in sports realised as part of the centrally driven policy efforts to develop sports since 2010. Along these and other changes that Hungarian sports went through before, sports clubs remained the traditional and basic units of the Hungarian sports sector even today. Their role in providing sporting opportunities for the public cannot be underestimated. Sports clubs, however, went through a professionalisation process as well, their daily operation became more business-like, and growth of paid personnel was noticeable. In this chapter, the four functions of sports clubs treated in this book such as health promotion, social integration, democracy and voluntary work are discussed.