The system of sports financing and management in the Republic of Croatia

The aim of this paper was to explore the connection between the level of economic development on the one hand, and the level of sport development on the other. From the management point of view the goal was to research the possibilities of public spending for sport since this is considered to be the most complex problem in managing the development of sport in Croatia. The data were collected by means of questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and correlation and regression analyses were performed. The research showed that economic development of Croatia measured through the level of GDP significantly affects the number of registered participants in sport in a positive way. However, by using confidence interval analysis it was possible to reject the hypothesis that the fundamental problem of sport development is the insufficient amount of public resources. Therefore, it can be concluded that the key role in a more qualitative system of sport management in Croatia belongs to the governing bodies and management of sport organizations.