By comparatively examining sport for health implementation, this article advances research on the wider social role of sport and sport policy implementation. Drawing on two in-depth interpretive case studies this article traces the working mechanisms and limits of sport for health policy implementation by voluntary sport clubs. The article advances from policy implementation literature and connects this body of literature with the institutional logics approach. Relying on document analysis, observations and interview data, we scrutinize the design principles and implementation process of two sport for health policy programmes in the Netherlands and Denmark. The analysis shows that a health logic is dominant in sport for health programmes, while voluntary sport clubs operate predominantly from a community logic. The article identifies both working mechanisms and limits of the implementation of sport for health by voluntary sport clubs. We argue that 1) voluntary sport clubs are able to combine a health and community logic, 2) the relative strength of the public health logic affects the clubs’ willingness to blend it into their community logic and 3) that process criteria are formative to the (lack of) success of policy implementation.