Advice for organised sporting and leisure activities
Updated
This content is archived and will not be updated.
Here you will find advice and guidance on organised sporting and leisure activities, such as music rehearsals, cultural activities, scouts, leisure clubs, homework help, etc. The advice must be adapted to local conditions, and the association / organiser who is responsible for arranging for the infection control recommendations to be followed.
The Norwegian Government has changed many of the national measures (in Norwegian) in effect from 1 February 2022 11:00 p.m. – our pages are being updated.
Burden of measures with closed leisure activities
In areas with reinforced measures in schools, the burden of measures for children and adolescents is great. Maintaining leisure activities for all children and young people is important for well-being, physical activity, social interaction, etc. A comprehensive knowledge base shows that low-threshold activities play a particularly important role for children and young people from families with various difficulties.
The effect of measures in schools can also be reduced if leisure activities are kept closed, because adolescents have a natural need to be social and often find alternative arenas. It is therefore important to strive to keep such offers open, especially low-threshold activities, with infection control measures in place. By low-threshold activities, we mean leisure activities that are free or have a low cost, have open premises and offer meeting places outside regular opening hours for ordinary services and activities for children and adolescents. Examples are leisure clubs, multi-purpose halls, arenas for outdoor activities, equipment stores, etc.
Infection control for organised leisure activities
The basic infection control advice about staying home when you are ill, reducing contact between people and good hand hygiene and cough etiquette also apply to the activities discussed in this article. See
In addition, the following advice applies for organised leisure activities.
Children and adolescents under 20 years:
- Outdoor activities can continue as normal.
- Indoors, it is recommended to have a group size of up to 20 people, or from the same class/cohort.
- For team sports, only individual matches are recommended, not indoor tournaments, cups, etc. For individual sports, it is recommended to limit group sizes in competitions.
Adults
- Indoors, it is recommended to have maximum 20 people with 1 metre distance. With intensive training, it should be possible to keep a 2 metre distance.
- Outdoors, adults can participate as normal, with contact where necessary.
For all age groups, the following applies
- Leisure activities should take place outside where possible.
- It is recommended to train / rehearse in regular groups.
- The risk of transmission indoors during high-intensity training, singing and the use of wind instruments may be increased. Increased distance between people, for example 2 metres, can help reduce the risk of transmission during these activities.
- The risk of transmission may be increased in rooms with poor ventilation. Further information about ventilation and airing can be found in Advice for workplaces and businesses
- Several groups can train / rehearse in the same premises if they are kept separate. It is an advantage if the groups are in separate rooms. If they can always keep at least 2 metres distance and otherwise can follow the infection control advice, they can be in the same room. The groups should also not have contact before or after the activity.
The association / club / business should:
- Provide information to participants, parents and instructors / volunteers that sick people, even those with mild symptoms, and people who are in quarantine or in isolation cannot participate.
- Assess whether there is a need for information in several languages.
- Register who is present (both participants and leaders / instructors) to help in the event of contact tracing.
- Ensure that the premises are large enough for participants to keep a distance of 1 metre from each other.
- If it is possible to arrange the use of changing rooms so that congestion and close contact between people can be avoided, changing rooms can remain open. If having changing rooms open causes crowding, they should be kept closed for ordinary use, but toilets and handwashing facilities should be kept available if there are no alternative facilities on the premises.
Cleaning and good hand hygiene / cough etiquette
Information about hand hygiene and cough etiquette can be found in the article
- Hand hygiene and cough etiquette - advice to the population.
Information on cleaning can be found in the article
Follow the current advice for using face masks. It is recommended for adults to use face masks in common areas indoors if it is not possible to keep a distance.
Stricter measures in areas with widespread transmission
Leisure activities should be considered according to the level of measures in schools and childcare centres. In areas with widespread transmission and with a yellow or red level of measures in schools, the introduction of reinforced infection control measures for organised leisure activities can be considered. This should always be considered as an alternative to closure.
Relevant measures include:
- Recommendations on distance between people throughout the activity for young people.
- Smaller groups, such as up to 5 or 10 per group.
- Move the activity outdoors where possible.
Events
Events can include, for example, matches, cups, tournaments, concerts, theatre performances and the like, but not ordinary training / rehearsals. A training match would, however, be considered an event, if it gathers spectators / many parents.
For supplementary infection control advice and current guidelines for the number of participants and requirements for organisers, see