Sport psychology is a small yet growing field in Germany. There are three main organizations governing the landscape of applied sport psychology and regulating the services for elite and junior high-performance sports. The Central Coordination for Sport Psychology of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund e.V., DOSB) is primarily responsible for the structural aspect of sport psychology services in Olympic Federations (Olympische Spitzenverbände) and Olympic Training Centers (Olympiastützpunkte, OSP). The financial aspect of sport psychology services in high-performance sports is led by the Federal Institute of Sports Science (Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft, BISp). In addition to funding scientific projects, it maintains a database for sport psychology professionals in Germany. The Association for Sport Psychology (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Sportpsychologie e.V., asp), the German equivalent of AASP, is responsible for the advancement and quality assurance of applied sport psychology in Germany.

The asp was founded in 1969, sixteen years prior to the establishment of AASP. Despite its early foundation, the asp is still a small but growing association. The number of members increases from 23 in 1969 to 540 in December 2021. As a comparison, AASP has almost 2,900 members from more than 55 countries. The asp represents the interests of sport psychology in university and non-university domains, with an aim to promote and advance sport psychology in the research, education, and applied settings of competitive, recreational, school, and health sports.

AASP promotes the use of evidence-based methods to sustainably optimize psychological skills of athletes and coaches. This also holds true for the German asp. Specifically, the asp emphasizes evidence-based approach in consulting via three pillars: diagnosis, intervention, and evaluation. Diagnosis comprises the systematic collection of information for exploring the initial situation, which either facilitates the establishment of status diagnostic and/or enables performance prognosis. Next, interventions are conducted based on scientific fundamentals, including support services (e.g., team development strategies) and applied methods (e.g., mental skills). This is followed by the evaluation and quality assurance of these support and consulting services, which may indicate a need for further refinement.

Like the United States, the title “psychologist” is protected by the Federation of German Psychologists’ Association. Only those with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology can hold the title “psychologist” in Germany, a Ph.D. is not required. However, the title “sport psychologist” is not protected. Anyone qualifying as a psychologist can call themselves sport psychologist without professional expertise, education, or training in the field. Thus, to ensure the quality assurance of sport psychological services in the German high-performance sport environment, practical guidelines and recommendations for professional qualification were implemented. In 2002, the postgraduate qualification requirements for sport psychology coaching and training in competitive sports, like the CMPC certification, was developed:

• basic competencies in the field of sports science and/or sport psychology (at least 50 hours) depending on the focus of the master’s degree;
• expert competencies in the field of sport psychological training and sport psychological coaching (at least 100 hours each);
• proof of at least 100 hours of sport psychology practice in performance-oriented sports under supervision/peer supervision (ratio 1:4, with a total of at least 25 hours of supervision) for each competency (sport psychological training and coaching).

A master’s degree in psychology, sports sciences, sport psychology, or an accredited academic master’s degree in comparable disciplines is needed to be eligible for the curriculum. Upon completion, graduates may be qualified as a sport psychology expert accredited by the asp, BISp, and DOSB. This qualification is required for the registration to the sport psychology professional database of BISp. Only those who can prove their qualifications by being listed in the BISp professional database can work at the Olympic Federations and Olympic Training Centers funded by the German government. The database has registered 255 accredited sport psychology professionals in April 2022. Alongside the curriculum, this qualification can be obtained by pursuing one of the two accredited master’s degrees in (applied) sport psychology in Germany.

Federal financing of sport psychology support and consulting services in the German high-performance sport environment are available through different opportunities. Project fundings for the Olympic Central Associations (Olympic Federations and Olympic Training Centers) are provided by federal government allocations coordinated by the DOSB. Specifically, to be eligible for these federal allocations, Olympic Central Associations must present a proposal regarding how the designed project can be beneficial to the respective national teams in major events, such as world championships or Olympic Games, in terms of the mental side of the game. Moreover, a specific focus on psychological skills training is emphasized at the Olympic Training Centers which allows athletes of the junior and Olympic squads to develop their psychological competencies. Support services that cannot be financed through Olympic Central Associations may be funded through scientific projects by the BISp. These services may include long-term association-specific sport psychology support for athletes of different professional levels, ranging from junior squads to Olympic athletes, as well as projects of the National Paralympic Committee Germany (DBS).

How much do sport psychology support and consulting services in high-performance and competitive sports cost in Germany? The Gebührenordnung I and II, which was implemented in 2002, serves as a guideline for sports practice, sport psychology experts, and for the Federal Institute of Sports Science (BISp) and the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) as funding institutions. This fee structure is not a legal obligation but is employed as the basis for calculating the costs incurred for measures that are funded by the BISp and the DOSB. It provides a binding guideline for funding institutions for services within and outside of federal funding. In addition, it serves as a reference for price negotiation for freelance sport psychology professionals.

Other than working at federally funded organizations, such as the Olympic Federations or the Olympic Training Centers, there are limited opportunities for working as a full-time sport psychology practitioners in Germany. Major sport associations, like the German Football Association, may employ full-time practitioners. However, most of the sport psychology graduates and/or experts work at universities or in other fields (e.g., industrial and organizational psychology) to earn a stable income and at the same time extend their private practice as a part-time practitioner. Only about 5% of psychology graduates work in the field of sport psychology. This number may increase in the upcoming years as there has been a growing interest in the field of sport psychology, which leads to the introduction of new sport psychology master’s degrees at German universities.