The voluntary sports sector is the core of the sports system in
Finland. Typically sports volunteers are coaches and active parents in sports
clubs or volunteers in sports events. The importance of nonprofit-making sports
clubs dates back to the mid-1800s when the first sports clubs were founded in
Finland. The foundation of the strong voluntary civic sector stems from the
historical background in which sports club formation was closely connected to
temperance, labor, and youth movements of the independence seeking society. Nowadays
there are nearly 10,000 sports clubs, most of them nonprofit-making registered
associations, and hundreds of sports events organized annually in which an
estimate of half a million Finns work voluntarily. The future challenges of sports
volunteering in Finland relate to the demographic changes and economic
fluctuations of the society, and individualistic motives of the citizens.