Sport Policy and Politics - Assessment and Possible Ways Forward

Head of Project:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mittag

IESF staff entrusted with the project:
Caroline Tisson
Vincent Bock

Period of research:
July 2020 – December 2020 

Project Partners:
Prof. Dr. Roland Naul (Sen.-Professor für European Studies in Physical Education and Youth Sport am Institut für Sportwissenschaft der WWU Münster)

EUPEA

ENGSO Youth

Project Funding:
European Parliament (IP/B/CULT/IC/2020-025)

Published study in June 2021:https://bit.ly/3cwK44r

Download of the study's abstract.

Project description

With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, sport was anchored in the EU Treaties as a matter of primary law. Although sport policy still remains primarily in the hands of the individual EU member states, the last decade has seen an increasing number of European initiatives in the field of sport. On the one hand, these have come from the Member States and from organised sport itself. On the other hand, initiatives have also come from the EU institutions, as sport not only overlaps with many areas of EU legislation - such as the common market - but is also increasingly understood in terms of its social and societal function.

With the aim of analysing the development to date, the current situation and potentials for the future of European sports policy, IESF has prepared a study for the European Parliament as part of the project "EU Sports policy: Assessment and Possible Ways forward", which takes a closer look at development lines, structures and policy areas of European sports policy. The study was presented to the CULT Committee of the European Parliament in May 2021 and is now available online and in print.

The IESF cooperated closely on this project with Prof. Dr. Roland Naul and his team from the Willibald Gebhardt Institute at the University of Münster. ENGSO Youth and the EUPEA network were further cooperation partners who accompanied the project, not least with a view to the European multi-level system.