Petru Gozun, president of Moldova’s Dance Sport Federation, is asking for a transparent algorithm for public sport money. The interview, published by NOI.md on 18 October, criticises the draft of the new funding rules: the percentages by category, he says, are unexplained, and the rules change too often for federations to plan.

The Ministry of Education and Research put draft regulations out to public consultation that split federations into six categories, for an Olympic cycle. C1 is for Olympic or Paralympic sports with a wide base and high potential. C5 is for sports recognised by the IOC but outside the Olympic programme. The classification is a draft, not a published law.

Gozun says the draft would give 41% of funding to C1 and 6% to C5, a gap of almost seven times. Dance sport, in his reading, sits in C5, even though Moldova took gold at the World Games in Chengdu and repeated the 2013, 2017 and 2022 podiums. Mass popularity, more than a thousand athletes with FDSM certificates, does not, he says, lift the share.

He wants a coefficient of at least 1.5 for pair events, as before. He notes that a funding rise after a strong 2027 would be capped at 15% in 2028, while a cut after a weak year would be 10%. Medals from meets with 50 countries, he says, should not sit on the same shelf as narrow tournaments.

Another target is the reserve fund: 20% of state sport-system funding, as much as C2 and C3 together and, on his sums, three times C5. He compares that with the government’s 2026 reserve, 150 million lei against 79.7 billion in revenue, about 0.2%. He accepts the need for an emergency pot; not spending it without written criteria.

Gozun accepts that a new regulation is, in principle, a step. He is not asking to scrap Olympic and mass-participation criteria. He is asking for the calculation method, not just the percentages. Until adoption the text remains a consultation draft, and the 41% and 6% figures are those in the interview, not a voted budget.

Image: Photobank MD, Palace of the Republic, Chișinău, CC0, Wikimedia Commons; the state hall, not an FDSM meeting in October 2026.

Sources consulted: Petru Gozun: Moldova sport funding needs a transparent algorithm - NOI.md; MEC put the new sport-funding regulations out to public consultation - MEC.