Competitive sports and training

Jyväskylä has long and successful traditions in competitive sports. Over the years, Finnish champions, European champions, World champions and Olympic winners have come from Jyväskylä. To this day, Jyväskylä’s athletes and sports clubs are successful both nationally and internationally.

There are about 220 sports clubs in Jyväskylä, many of which are also engaged in competitive sports. In the main league level, there are groups from over ten different sport-genres. In addition to competitive sports, individual sports are also yielding strong success stories. 

Different ball sports clubs based in Jyväskylä have been working together to increase cooperation between clubs through the All in JKL -project, run by Keski-Suomen Liikunta, since 2014. The club cooperation program includes about a dozen clubs in Jyväskylä and its ultimate goal is to develop game events and their marketing all-together. The city of Jyväskylä is also involved in supporting this unique club cooperation and developing activities.

Competitive and top-level sports

Competitive and top-level sports activities are strongly supported and promoted by KIHU – Finnish Institute of High Performance Sport and Jyväskylä Sports Academy, Sports Lab Jyväskylä and Trainingroom Jyväskylä.

KIHU leads the Finnish Olympic Committee's Top Sports Unit, which focuses on supporting the everyday life of athletes, coaches and other network actors through three programs. These include a Peak Phase Program, a Sports Academy Program, and a Competence Program. 

The most important task of these activities is to ensure the best and latest information, knowledge and support for athletes, coaches and other actors included in the whole athlete's path. In addition to KIHU’s services, athletes have access to the services of Sports Lab Jyväskylä and the facilities of Trainingroom Jyväskylä, which can be used for measuring and maintaining athletes’ performance, for example.