The purpose of this study is to investigate structural and cultural barriers that affect women's opportunities to reach leadership positions within sports. Despite progress in gender equality efforts in sports, the gender distribution in leadership positions, especially within elite sports, remains. Female leaders in sports face structural barriers that limit their opportunities to advance compared to their male counterparts. To effectively combat these issues, continued efforts are required to promote equality and inclusion, including raising awareness of the gender-related norms that govern leadership and organization within the sports world. It is therefore crucial to understand that women and men are often judged differently in leadership roles, which is a consequence of the norms and values about leadership that prevail in society at large. The method used in this study is a qualitative research approach where we have interviewed 16 leaders of both genders (N=16) within a specific sports association (SF) affiliated with the Swedish Sports Confederation (RF), as the aim is to deepen the understanding of what structural and cultural barriers affect women's opportunities to reach leadership positions in sports. The questions were: - What structural and cultural barriers affect women's ability to advance to leadership positions in sports? And - How does the organizational culture, norms, and gender distribution in sports affect women's ability to reach leadership positions in sports? The results show that a male-dominated culture persists and makes it more difficult for women to reach leadership positions. For leaders in sports, it is important to be aware and attentive to these different levels of corporate culture. The unconscious perceptions can often be the biggest obstacles to changing structures and creating a more inclusive leadership. The results also depict how male-dominated norms from an equality perspective shape sports regarding power balance, where women, despite knowledge, will, and ability, do not reach higher positions to the same extent as male leaders.