Norway coordinates sport development through democratic processes and an umbrella entity, the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF), which includes 55 sports federations, 19 regional confederations, 370 sports councils, the Olympic Committee, Paralympic Committee, and Special Olympics. The NIF equally represents the mass sport movement and the elite sport structure, with both stakeholder groups possessing 75 votes at the biennial General Assembly. Sport clubs are the backbone of Norwegian sport with more than 12,000 of them across the country, which are almost entirely run by volunteers.

The NIF is overseen by the Ministry of Culture’s Department of Sport Policy, a government agency. The Ministry guides public funding for sport, administering 64% of gaming proceeds from Norway’s national lottery and sports betting mechanism, Norsk Tipping, to the sports ecosystem, which receives roughly $400 million USD annually for new projects. Most of that support goes back to communities to help train coaches, buy equipment, and build facilities sought by communities. The Ministry works with counties (states), the education agency, and the NIF to operationalize the national sport policy objective of “Joy of Sport for All.”

At every level of sport, the National Sport Federations are held responsible for building safe, fair, and inclusive environments for participants. Only sports facilities that meet universal design requirements that encourage usability for all people, with and without disabilities, are eligible for government funding. Additionally, the NIF has set guidelines for anti-corruption, transparency of funds, gender balance, and inclusion of persons from various ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds as part of a prerequisite to receive funding, with a zero-tolerance discrimination policy to support this work.