The Institut Català de Finances (ICF) and the Department of Sports, through the Consell Català de l'Esport (CCE), are making available to sports federations, clubs and councils a line of loans to facilitate the financing of the grants awarded by the CCE to these entities. The ICF will provide €10 million to advance the amounts of this support.

The CEO of the ICF, Vanessa Servera, explains that "for a public promotional bank, it is a priority to stand alongside clubs, federations and sports councils and to offer them financing to make their projects possible, and to do so on good terms."

The Secretary General of the Department of Sports, Abel García, states that "it is a priority of our department to provide the maximum financial support to federations, clubs and sports councils, as they are the driving force of sporting activity in our country. With this line of loans, we ease their internal operations so they can carry out their day-to-day activity."

This new lending instrument, called ICF Entitats Esportives, gives sports federations, clubs and councils in Catalonia access to financing to carry out the sports promotion activities for which they have received a grant from the CCE under the various calls that the Government makes available to them.

The maximum loan amount will be that of the Consell Català de l'Esport grant, with a maximum of €500,000 per transaction. The repayment term will be up to two years, including a capital amortisation grace period of up to two years.

This line of loans reflects the Government's commitment to supporting the activity of the agents that keep the country's sports system running — in the federated, school and sport-for-all spheres — and that thereby promote sporting activity among the public as a whole. A promotion that has an impact at the competitive level but that also fosters the social and territorial cohesion of the country.

The policy of economic support for the Catalan sports sector carried out by the Department of Sports benefits clubs — key to the strength of Catalan sport thanks to a successful training model that begins at an early age — as well as federations, which work to achieve excellence in top-level competitions and project Catalonia onto the international stage.

As for the sports councils, the Government's support is part of the objective of guaranteeing a comprehensive education for children through sport, given its integrating and transformative function, which allows them to learn values and healthy habits that will stay with them into adulthood.