Club Model
Denmark is a land of associations, and especially in sport the idea of getting together to form clubs has strong roots. DIF is today the umbrella organisation of 58 national federations comprising around 11,000 clubs with approximately 1.7 million members in all.
The Danish sports clubs depend on the work of voluntary and often unpaid leaders and instructors and on democratic decision-making structures. The clubs were founded by committed people who joined in a common love for a particular sport and the social life that comes with it. There are more than 200,000 volunteers involved in the work in the clubs.
In Denmark the Ministry of Culture is the ministry responsible for sport, as in Denmark both elite sport and sport for everyone are considered to be an important feature of the cultural picture. The Danish government, however, interferes very little in sports matters.