Sweden’s National Sports Confederation has recognized the Swedish Esports Association following a successful 108-71 vote on May 28.
This successful vote comes after the Confederation’s board recommended member associations should vote against allowing the Esports Association in, only for the recommendation to be ignored by the majority of members.
In Sweden, the National Sports Confederation is a membership group of 179 sports associations such as the Athletic Association, American Football Federation, and Military Sports Federation, to name a few. Together, the confederation speaks on behalf of these associations as a united front when in contact with entities such as the government as well as providing grants and funding to agreed-upon initiatives.
The Swedish Esports Association had been attempting to join the Confederation for quite some time to no avail, as reported by Swedish newspaper Expressen.
Their next vote on whether they could join was set to be during last weekend’s National Sports Meeting where if the associations voted against the Esports Association’s entry, they would have to wait another two years before the next vote.
Ahead of the vote, the Confederation recommended its members vote the entry down, which would usually be a killing blow to any association’s chances. In response, several individual associations instead spoke for allowing the Esports Association’s admittance. These associations were for school sports, cycling, judo, martial arts, archery, powerlifting, para-sports, and multi-sports.
With this help, the vote passed 108 to 71, meaning the Swedish Esports Association has joined the ranks alongside dozens of traditional groups. It will mow have a seat around the table when deciding the future of all sports in the country. It also means the Esports Association will now receive government funding from next year onwards.
In an interview with Expressen in April, Ninjas in Pyjamas’ COO Jonas Gundersen stated (translated from Swedish) that the admittance would help bring esports into the mainstream in Sweden which would “give access to good conversations and exchanges with other industries to build esports so that it becomes more long-term.”
DreamHack’s ex-chief strategy officer, Tomas Lyckedal, said: “I can see huge benefits of joining the Confederation and esports getting a more accepted role in society as it gives the opportunity to apply for local and regional grants, and get more money into the grassroots.”
This comes two years after Sweden lost The Dota 2 International 2021 tournament due to the Swedish government failing to acknowledge esports events as “major sporting events” meaning competitors and staff couldn’t get visas to enter the country. The International was instead moved to Romania.
Related: Valve forced to find alternate TI10 location following Swedish ruling
Later that year, Sweden did change the rules to allow the Counter-Strike PGL Major Stockholm to take place, however, the Esports Association being a recognized member should help avoid issues like this in the future and allows issues to be brought up through the Confederation.
On the same day, the Swedish Federation for Functional Fitness was also admitted but the Swedish Taekwondo Union was rejected.
Additionally, the Swedish Canoe Slalom Association and the Swedish Sex Association both failed to complete paperwork in time and were automatically rejected.
