Record support for young athletes across Poland

The ORLEN Sports Program attracted record-breaking interest – as many as 2,375 clubs, foundations and sports associations from all over Poland signed up to participate. Recruitment took place from October 7 to October 31 via an electronic form on the website sportorlen.pl. The submitted applications were carefully analyzed and assessed by a specially appointed team of experts, guided by clear and transparent criteria, consistent with the principles of the company’s new sponsoring policy.

Thanks to the high quality of applications and their number, ORLEN decided to increase the program budget to PLN 12 million, which enabled the qualification of as many as 185 clubs from all over Poland. The recruitment results have just been announced.

Diversity and support

The selected clubs included organizations promoting as many as 32 different sports disciplines, including popular ones such as volleyball, athletics and swimming, as well as less known ones such as American football or lacrosse. Clubs will be able to use the funds received to purchase sports equipment, rent facilities, organize tournaments and camps, as well as to remunerate coaches, physiotherapists, dieticians and psychologists.

Lidia Kołucka, Executive Director for Sponsorship at ORLEN, emphasized the importance of the program:

“Sportowy ORLEN is our commitment to the physical activation of children and young people. In this way, we want to create foundations for the future successes of Polish sport. Therefore, taking into account the wide social response and the quality of the submitted applications, we decided to expand the group of beneficiaries.”

Social campaign and support for athletes

The recruitment was accompanied by the social campaign “Sport is a school of life”, the aim of which was to emphasize the importance of physical activity in the development of children and adolescents. The ambassadors of the campaign were famous athletes cooperating with ORLEN: Aleksandra Mirosław, Olympic champion and world record holder in sports climbing; Anita Włodarczyk, three-time Olympic champion in hammer throw; and Bartosz Kurek, captain of the Polish national volleyball team. The campaign was also supported by TV spots featuring children practicing sports: Nadzieja, Dima and Franek.

Future prospects

The ORLEN Sports Program is one of the pillars of the ORLEN Sports Academy – a comprehensive initiative of the concern aimed at promoting physical activity among children and teenagers.

However, ORLEN does not limit itself only to this project. It is also a strategic partner of the Active School program, implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, and the initiator of other projects, such as the Football Future with ORLEN.

Thanks to these activities, nearly 26,000 young athletes will be able to develop their passions and skills, and ORLEN once again confirms its commitment to creating foundations for the future successes of Polish sport.