After meeting with members of the German Football Association (DFB) and organizers for the women's soccer world championship, Manfred Schaub, a member of the Social Democrats' executive, said having sport as a constitutional objective would help resolve urban space issues, and make sure sport didn't always suffer when state coffers were empty.

SPD head Kurt Beck added that he recognized the contribution of the DFB in combating racism and integrating young immigrants.

However, in an interview with the taz newspaper earlier in January, former Constitutional Court judge Udo Steiner advised against the move to make sport a national objective on the grounds that such objectives only required the government to act, but didn't specify in what way.

"As a general rule, there is always going to be controversy about what measures are appropriate," Steiner told the taz. "If sport becomes a national objective, it probably wouldn't receive one single euro more. Political priorities determine how government money is distributed, and that is how it should be."

But the general director of the German Olympic committee, Michael Vesper, said late last year that he welcomed the Social Democrats' support for the initiative.

"It is good news for sport, especially for the 7.5 million volunteers involved," he said in a statement.

A private matter?

Nearly 30 percent of Germany's population is a member in a sports association.

"There are more than 90,000 sports clubs and they help to keep our communities together," Vesper said. "The inclusion of sport as national objective … can back community-spirited sports and give greater power to promote its aims."

However, speaking at a government hearing on the subject in 2007, Friedhelm Hufen, a constitutional expert at the University of Mainz, emphasized that the purpose of the constitution was not to recognize the efforts of volunteers and organizations.

Objectives currently in the German constitution include democracy, rule of law, environmental protection and animal protection, which, in 2002, was the most recent addition. A recent proposal also called for special protection of children in the constitution.

Most states support sport

Fifteen of Germany's 16 states have already added sport to their list of objectives in their state constitutions. Under the federal constitution, the German government is responsible for supporting top-level sports.

The Social Democrats have said before they wanted culture to be included as a new constitutional objective, along with sport. The initiative also has the support of the Left party and the free-market liberal Free Democrats, who originally called for the constitutional changes back in 2006.

As constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority, they need the backing of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats. However, the party made it clear in December 2007 that it wouldn't support any constitution changes within the current legislature period, which runs to May 2009.