Olympic Solidarity Athlete Scholarships:

Start with the number, because it changes how you spend the next month.

Six. Olympic Solidarity grants a maximum of six athlete scholarships per National Olympic Committee for the Los Angeles 2028 cycle — three men and three women — within a monthly budget of USD 9,000 per country.

Six for all of Pakistan, across every individual Olympic sport.

And you do not apply for one. Your National Olympic Committee does. In Pakistan that means the Pakistan Olympic Association, submitting through Olympic Solidarity’s RELAY system. An athlete who sends a file directly to Lausanne has sent it to the wrong address.

The first question to ask, before anything else

The programme runs from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2028. Applications opened on RELAY in May 2025, and the first allocation batch closed on 30 June 2025.

Two sentences in Olympic Solidarity’s document matter enormously here. Olympic Solidarity allocates all of an NOC’s scholarships at the same time, so candidates go in together rather than one by one. And scholarships are “a long-term investment and are generally not replaced once awarded.”

Put those together and the honest position is this: if the Pakistan Olympic Association has already submitted and filled its six places, there is nothing to apply for until after LA28. If it has not, or if a place falls vacant through one of the withdrawal conditions below, the door is open.

So the first thing an athlete should do is not prepare a file. It is write to the POA and ask whether it has filled its six places, and if so, when the next cycle opens.

Who qualifies

At country level, this programme is open to NOCs that sent 50 or fewer athletes in individual sports to Paris 2024. That count excludes basketball, football, handball, hockey, rugby sevens, volleyball and water polo. Pakistan’s Paris 2024 delegation sat far below fifty, which places the country inside this group.

At athlete level, four conditions.

1. You practice an individual sport on the LA28 programme, at international level.

2. You hold the technical level to qualify for LA28, shown through international results recognized by your International Federation. This is the hard one. The scholarship funds athletes who are plausibly going to qualify, not athletes hoping to begin.

3. You have limited access to training funds, no other means of paying for preparation, and the scholarship would make a significant difference.

4. No doping conviction and no sanction for breaching sporting ethics standards.

Condition three deserves a word. Olympic Solidarity writes it as a requirement, not a formality. A federation nominating a well-funded athlete over an underfunded one of similar standard is working against the programme’s stated purpose.

What the money is for

A fixed monthly grant, standard at USD 1,500 per athlete.

Eligible costs run across training facilities and camps, a specialized coach, medical and scientific support, accident and illness insurance, board and lodging, pocket money, and travel to competitions including qualification events. Note that the grant covers insurance but not medical treatment itself.

One requirement sits inside the grant: part of it must go toward transport, including equipment, to qualification competitions. For a Pakistani athlete in a sport with heavy kit, that clause is the difference between entering qualification events and watching them.

Two ways it gets administered

The NOC option. You usually train in your own country, or at an independent center abroad, and the POA administers the scholarship.

The training center option. Olympic Solidarity picks a high-level training center with the NOC, the center administers the money, and Olympic Solidarity pays it directly.

That second option matters more than it looks. Where an athlete has reason to want the money handled outside their own federation, the structure for it already exists and it is Olympic Solidarity’s own published option.

The obligations, and how a scholarship gets withdrawn

Each athlete signs an agreement with the NOC and the National Federation. Reporting runs every four months: an evaluation form signed by the athlete, the federation and the NOC, plus a financial report where the money passes through the NOC. Olympic Solidarity releases payments only once it accepts the reports, and may cancel a scholarship if reports stay outstanding beyond a four-month delay.

Olympic Solidarity lists its withdrawal grounds plainly: failure to qualify for LA28, a decline in technical level, unethical behavior, breach of the agreement, non-compliance with reporting, or competing for a different NOC.

Read the first one carefully. This is a qualification scholarship, and it can end if qualification stops looking likely.

How the selection actually works

The NOC submits candidates in priority order, with equal numbers of men and women. Olympic Solidarity then analyses each candidate with the relevant International Federation, and that analysis takes at least two months.

So two bodies decide: your own association sets the order, and your international federation validates the standard. Your results in federation-recognized competition are what the second half of that process reads.

What this shares with other nomination scholarships

The structure here is the same one that governs WMO fellowships in meteorology: a national body holds the door, the individual never applies, and the real deadline is internal rather than published. Our wider coverage of how scholarship routes differ in shape explains why that distinction matters more than the money.

If sport funding does not open for you, a degree route may. Many athletes reach an international standard and still need a qualification behind them, and the general scholarship routes stay open regardless of federation politics.

A note on the coaches’ programme

Olympic Solidarity runs a separate Olympic Scholarships for Coaches, with different rules: the NOC still applies, the quota is smaller at one to two per NOC per year, and the deadline is rolling rather than batched, requiring the application two months before the training begins.

A coach reading this page should not use these athlete rules. They are two different programmes.

FAQ

Can I apply directly? No. Your National Olympic Committee applies, through RELAY.

Who is that in Pakistan?

The Pakistan Olympic Association.

How many scholarships does a country get?

A maximum of six: three men and three women, within USD 9,000 a month.

How much is each one?

A fixed monthly grant, standard at USD 1,500.

How long does it run?

The programme runs from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2028.

Is it too late?

The first allocation batch closed 30 June 2025, and Olympic Solidarity generally does not replace awards. Ask the POA whether it has filled its six places.

What does it cover?

Training facilities and camps, a coach, medical and scientific support, insurance, board and lodging, pocket money, and travel to competitions. The grant excludes medical treatment itself.

Do team-sport athletes qualify?

This scholarship is for individual sports on the LA28 programme.

Which countries are eligible?

NOCs that sent 50 or fewer athletes in individual sports to Paris 2024, excluding seven team sports from that count.

Can they withdraw it?

Yes, including for failing to qualify, a decline in technical level, breach of the agreement, or late reporting.

Who decides?

The NOC sets the priority order; Olympic Solidarity and your International Federation approve.