Finnish professional ice hockey players are donating €121,000 to the Olympic Fund to help the next generation on their journey to the top at the national and international levels. The donation consists of personal contributions from Finland’s Milano Cortina Olympic Team and leading Finnish ice hockey stars Aleksander Barkov, Mikael Granlund, and Olli Määttä. 

The Olympic Fund is building a permanent funding base for Finnish sport. All donations are retained as part of the fund’s capital, and only the returns on that capital are used to support sport, year after year. The €121,000 collective donation from professional ice hockey players is earmarked for ice hockey, and the returns generated by the donated capital will support young ice hockey players on their journey toward national and international excellence.  

Donations will support the next generation of top ice hockey players 

– Ice hockey has given me so much. No one is born a high-performance athlete; the journey to the top of the world is a long one and requires not only years of hard work but also a lot of support and opportunities. Now I have the chance to help the next generation of young players on their own journey. That feels important, says Aleksander Barkov, captain of this spring’s World Championship gold-medal-winning team. 

– Finnish sport need a new way of thinking. The Olympic Fund’s innovative model of permanent capital offers a unique opportunity to create a funding mechanism that benefits generations of athletes. This way, those of us who have already achieved success as athletes can help future generations, say Mikael Granlund, captain of the bronze-medal-winning team in Milan, and Olli Määttä, a World Championship gold medallist.

– This is something truly valuable for Finnish sports. Successful athletes don’t just think about their own careers; they want to use their success to benefit future generations. I hope this will set an example that encourages other athletes and supporters of Finnish sport to donate to the Olympic Fund, says Lauri Inna, Chair of the Finnish Sports Support Foundation, which manages the Olympic Fund.   

Government matching funds increase the impact of donations

The impact of donations made to the Olympic Fund now continues to grow thanks to government matching funds. Donations collected for the fund during 2026 will receive government matching funds in 2027.  

The Olympic Fund’s assets have already grown to nearly five million euros. The fund aims to build a permanent funding base for Finnish sport. The fund’s capital is preserved, and only the returns are used to support sport. This means that a donation made today could still be supporting Finnish athletes decades from now. 

The Olympic Fund doesn’t promise medals. It provides opportunities.