Sport, a mix of aid from the regions for children's activities

Until 13 May, on the Sport and Health website, all residents in the Lazio region, aged between 6 and 18, whose families have an Isee not exceeding €50,000, can apply to receive a €500 voucher and choose where to do sport among the 5,454 courses in various disciplines, made available by 1,961 sports organisations. This is the deadline for the Lazio Region's 2026 sports vouchers.

The initiative, renewed for the second consecutive year and carried out in collaboration with Sport and Health, aims to support sport practice by breaking down the economic barrier to access. This year the range of accredited courses is 36% wider than last year and the offer involves 2,620 sports facilities (+15% compared to 2025) in 217 municipalities in Lazio (+3%). The procedure has been made more streamlined but the controls are stringent: sporting activity must be practised for at least three hours per month (one hour for the disabled) and in order to certify actual attendance, it will be necessary to stamp the daily QR code, either on entry or exit.

That of the Latium Region is only the latest in a series of regional aids put in place to support the spending of families for children's sports activities. With the same scheme (info on bandi.sportesalute.eu) also the regions of Molise and Calabria have provided sports vouchers (from 300 to 500 euros) for young residents.

In Lombardy, on the other hand, the call for applications for the Dote Sport for the 2025-2026 sports year remained open until 18 March. The endowment is EUR 2 million to help Lombardy families meet the costs of sports activities for their children, aged 6 to 17 (minors born after 1 January 2009). The contribution is intended for families with Isee up to 20,000 euro (up to 30,000 in the case of a child/children with disabilities in the household). The sports courses must last at least 6 months, from September 2025 to June 2026, and the dowry is worth 100 euros per household (up to two dowries with 3 minors, up to three dowries with 4 or more minors and no limit in case of disability).

In 2025 also the Apulia Region has allocated 400 thousand euros for sports vouchers to support the physical activity of Apulian children between the ages of 6 and 18, belonging to families with an Isee up to 17 thousand euros, or 28 thousand in the case of large families: the contributions of a maximum of 400 euros for each child can be spent in Apulian amateur sports associations and clubs recognised by the CONI or the Italian Paralympic Committee. A similar scheme has been adopted by the Campania Region (fourth edition in 2025-2026) and the Autonomous Province of Trento, and so on, confirming the extent to which local authorities are becoming true protagonists of family welfare.