Minister Milagros Tolón reaffirms the Government’s commitment to strengthening the federal model

• The Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Milagros Tolón, met this Friday with the President of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, and with leaders of the sports federations.
• Milagros Tolón has highlighted the firm commitment of the Government of Spain to strengthen the federative model as an essential pillar of the national sports system, with an economic support of 800 million euros since 2018, channeled through the subsidies of the Superior Sports Council.

Madrid, January 23, 2026.- The Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Milagros Tolón, held this Friday a meeting with the President of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Alejandro Blanco, and with leaders of the sports federations, before whom she stressed the firm commitment of the Government of Spain to strengthening the federative model.

At a meeting held at the headquarters of the COE, Minister Milagros Tolón has expressed her desire to continue moving forward on “a shared roadmap”, which strengthens the role of sport as a “strategic public policy”, from a vocation of listening and collaboration. “This is how I understand public service: from closeness, from permanent dialogue and from institutional loyalty,” said Milagros Tolón, who has been accompanied by the Secretary of State for Sport and President of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes.

During her speech, the minister stressed that the Spanish Olympic Committee and sports federations constitute “the essential pillar of a sports model in which this government firmly believes”.

This commitment is reflected in an unprecedented economic support, channeled through the Superior Sports Council.

Milagros Tolón recalled that since 2018 the CSD has mobilized 800 million euros in the service of the federative system. In 2025 alone, and for the second year in a row, this support has been consolidated above 140 million euros, a figure that practically doubles the public resources available in 2018.

For the Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, this investment effort is an indication of the ability of the Higher Sports Council to realize the “political will of this Government to promote sport in our country”.

“The CSD’s own budget, which reached 321 million euros last year – a figure that almost doubles the 2017 budget – clearly reflects the Government of Pedro Sánchez’s historic commitment to sport,” he added.

In this context, Milagros Tolón has recognized the “irreplaceable” role of sports federations in the detection and development of talent, from early ages to the high level, as well as in the international projection of Spain, either through the organization of sports events or participation in the main decision-making spaces at a global level.

In addition, he especially appreciated the contribution of sports federations to the promotion and consolidation of fundamental public policies.

Among them, she mentioned the advances in gender equality, recalling that in the last decade the presence of women on the Boards of Directors of Spanish sports federations has doubled, which for the first time exceed 40% of representativeness in these bodies.

Milagros Tolón has also highlighted the effort made to integrate athletes with disabilities into the federative structures, a process that has already culminated in 23 unisports federations.

“Government action will not be intermittent or isolated”

Milagros Tolón has also reflected on the context of growing international competitiveness. Faced with this reality, he has affirmed that the public action of the Government “will not be intermittent or isolated.” “We will continue to promote sport as a true state policy, ensuring stability, sustained investment and loyal cooperation,” he said.

The minister also recalled that the creation of the Executive Committee of Spanish Sport, announced last December by the President of the Government, will offer a key instrument for “Spanish sport to play its best game in the coming years”. This body will bring together the Superior Sports Council, the Spanish Olympic Committee and the Spanish Paralympic Committee in strategic decision-making.

In this regard, Milagros Tolón has expressed his appreciation to the president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco, to whom he has publicly thanked his “tireless work” and his more than twenty years of dedication at the head of the Olympic entity. Not in vain, the minister has stressed that the present of Spanish sport is, to a large extent, the result of the daily work of the Spanish Olympic Committee and sports federations, whose work and results “fill the whole country with pride” week after week.

Finally, Milagros Tolón has defended a comprehensive vision of sport as an engine of economy, health, employment, territorial cohesion, equal opportunities and social transformation, highlighting the role of the local sphere in promoting sports policy. In this regard, he stressed that the city councils manage 92% of the country’s sports facilities and play a key role, both in grassroots and school sports and in federated sports, turning sports practice into a true instrument of social progress in towns and cities.