Swedish sports federation rejected application to make sex an official sport

"BREAKING NEWS: Sweden has officially recognized sexual intercourse as a sport! It's official, folks," reads a Facebook post published in Kenya on June 6, 2023.

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A screenshot of the false post, taken on June 9, 2023

The claim was also reported in an article by a media group in South Africa.

Elsewhere, the story was picked up by blogs and websites in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Colombia and Nigeria, where a former senator advised the country to stick to sporting codes approved by the International Olympic Committee.

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A screenshot of the former senator's tweet

Unofficial competition

The rumour stems from a group founded in 2016 called the Swedish Sex Federation (SSF), which describes itself as "the only organisation in the world that practices sex as a sport" (archived).

It boasts on its website that it "was the first in the world to organise the World Sex Championships".

According to local reports (here and here), Swedish strip club owner Dragan Bratic had partnered with SSF to submit an application to the country's official National Sports Confederation (Riksidrottsförbundets - RF) to become a member (archived here and here).

A statement (archived) issued by RF on April 26, 2023, acknowledged the application made earlier in the year but said it was incomplete and rejected "without examination".

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A screenshot of the RF statement dated April 26, 2023

The claims went viral days before an event called the European Championship in Sex, organised by SSF, was scheduled to begin on June 8, 2023.

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A screenshot of the homepage pop-up

However, tweets from the event’s host account announced a one-day delay due to “technical problems” with “hackers”.

On June 12, 2023, it appeared the contest was underway, with tweets calling for votes.

Either way, claims that Swedish sports sanctioned the event and approved the application to make sex an official sport in the country are false.

‘Nonsense’

In January 2023, RF chairman Björn Eriksson told Swedish broadcaster TV4 that the sports body had received an application from SSF for accredited status but that it would be rejected unanimously.

"I just hope this nonsense goes away," Eriksson added at the time.

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Months later, RF’s position remains unchanged.

"Right now, false information is being spread in some international media about Sweden and Swedish sports — these are vigorously denied," RF’s interest policy manager Cecilia Lunell told AFP Fact Check in a statement.

"The Swedish Sports Confederation has drawn attention to the fact that in some parts of the international media, news is currently being spread that a sex federation has become a member of The Swedish Sports Confederation," she added.

"It is false information with the aim of smearing Swedish sports and Sweden. There is no sex federation that is a member of the Swedish Sports Confederation."