Services by the SFISM
The majority of the SFISM’s services are youth and elite sport-related and are provided to national sports federations. The services provided by the SFISM are tailored to Switzerland’s sports system. They help ensure that scientific findings flow into the sports system, and that the system remains efficient and continues to develop in a targeted and sustainable way.
Services for players in Switzerland’s sports system
The SFISM provides a variety of services:
- Medical, physiotherapeutic and psychological treatments
- Clarifications, tests, analyses, evaluations, monitoring
- Consultations and workshops
- Expert reports and documentation
- Expert assignments (e.g. in training and further education at other universities)
- Commissioned research projects
FOSPO supports sports federations with cutting-edge technology
People in Switzerland are highly enthusiastic about sport – and these sports fans also have high expectations of Swiss athletes. The Sport Promotion Act enshrines support for elite sport and performance-oriented youth sport. Using state-of-the-art technology, the Federal Office of Sport (FOSPO) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport in Magglingen (SFISM) provide professional support for Swiss elite sport.
The following technologies and facilities are available to the sports federations, along with expert supervision and guidance from SFISM staff:
- Various treadmills (including for roller skiing and cycling, with the option to simulate route profiles)
- Cycling laboratory
- Thermal laboratory
- Blood volume laboratory
- Strength laboratory
- Diagnostics hall (including 3D force plates and a motion capture system)
- Gait analysis corridor (including 3D force plates and a motion capture system)
- Recovery pools
- Local positioning system (LPS) – indoor and outdoor
- Global positioning system (GPS)
Interprofessional cooperation – successful together
SFISM staff take a networking approach to providing holistic, collaborative support for elite athletes. As part of a pilot project, the Performance Sport section is being reorganised based on the principles of interprofessional cooperation. This method brings together specialists from various disciplines (including sports medicine and physiotherapy, sports psychology and physiology, training science, and technique and tactics) as well as from professions outside the department (e.g. coaches) to provide comprehensive support for athletes.
Systematic interaction between internal and external specialists is the key to success. The aim is to provide athletes with high-quality, optimised and efficient support that enables them to maintain or regain their performance levels while ensuring their well-being.
News on services by the SFISM
Focus on research, innovation and education: International sports federations in dialogue
International sports federations are facing growing challenges in relation to research, innovation and education. To foster exchange, the SFISM has launched a new working group. This year’s event focused on athletes’ health.
Getting fit for an international career (de, fr)
Players from the women’s U16, U18 and U20 national handball teams gathered in Magglingen in mid-November for performance tests – a day that is vital for their athletic development, while pushing them to their limits.
Training, testing, developing — Women's football enjoys home advantage in Magglingen
Before the start of the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 in Switzerland, the Swiss women's national team stayed at the National Sports Centre Magglingen (SCM) for one week. The Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen (SFISM) and the Federal Office of Sport (FOSPO) provide ideal conditions for elite sport that includes professional infrastructure, medical care and academic support – all in one place.
Improved neuromuscular performance and robustness through high-quality strength training
A new factsheet on «strength training performance reserve» from the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen SFISM in collaboration with Swiss Olympic can help you become stronger, more explosive and faster in the long term.
A beast for FOSPO sports science
The new Lärchenplatz building at the National Sports Centre in Magglingen has been in use since last December. Now a further element has been added to the flagship sports science building: an oversize treadmill. And it was installed in quite a spectacular way.
Service providers at the SFISM
Sports medicine
Athletes have different risk profiles depending on their particular sport. If problems arise, they require a specific therapeutic strategy that will enable them to maintain their performance.
Sports physiotherapy and sports massage
Sports physiotherapy is a specialization in the treatment and prevention of general and overuse injuries sustained by athletes. Sports massage aims to aid muscular recuperation following sporting activity.
Sports psychology
Sports psychology is concerned with the attitudes, thoughts and behaviour of elite athletes. It seeks to explain and predict these, and also to alter and optimize them where necessary or desirable.
Sports physiology endurance
The Sports physiology (endurance) section supports elite sport in Switzerland through its provision of practice-centred services, teaching and research and development.
Sports physiology (strength)
The Sports Physiology section currently supports the physical performance development of Swiss national teams across ten different sports requiring explosive strength. It uses a variety of performance tests, some of which have been developed in-house, to determine maximum and explosive strength, and derives training recommendations from the results.
Sports physiology (game sports)
The team supports the physical performance development of Swiss elite and emerging athletes in game sports through performance analyses and training recommendations.
Technique and tactics
Technique and tactics determine performance in elite sport and are central elements in the training of athletes.
Exercise Science
Exercise Science conducts research in the field of talent identification, talent development as well as long-term performance development.
Sports economics
The Department of Sports Economics develops and teaches key skills in the fields of sports economics and sports management. Its focus is on the optimisation of private and public sports organisations, the analysis of national and international sports systems, and the sustainable construction and efficient operation of sports facilities.
Integration and prevention unit
The Integration and Prevention Unit deals with all aspects of diversity and prevention in sport and raises awareness of its value for the individual and society. In the right circumstances, sport can make an important contribution to society by fostering social participation, physical development and personal fulfilment. The Unit also seeks to prevent undesirable side effects of sport such as addiction, violence, discrimination, doping or sexual abuse.
Monitoring and Evaluation unit
The Monitoring and Evaluation unit develops survey methods to measure physiological parameters.