SOPROS | Assessing, Evaluating and Implementing Athletes' Social Protection in Olympic Sports

SOPROS EU-Level Multi-Stakeholder Workshop in Brussels

On June 26, 2025, the SOPROS project brought together over 20 high-level stakeholders from European institutions, national governments, sport organisations and athlete associations for its EU-Level Multi-Stakeholder Workshop in Brussels. One remark from the discussions captured the atmosphere of broad consensus: “I learnt that you can’t be against the social protection of athletes.” Yet, as the workshop also made clear, turning this shared conviction into concrete, coordinated action across national borders remains a significant challenge. Hosted at UNI Europa in the heart of Brussels, the event provided a unique platform for open dialogue and co-creation on one of the most pressing topics in European sport governance: strengthening the social protection of elite athletes. The workshop marked an important step towards developing practical, cross-border solutions to safeguard athletes’ rights and well-being across Europe.

The SOPROS Project: Approach and Evaluation Results

The workshop began with an introduction to the SOPROS project’s core objectives and research findings. Professor Juergen Mittag from the German Sport University Cologne and the project team, Maximilian Seltmann and Lorenz Fiege, presented a comprehensive overview of the current state of social protection for elite athletes in Europe. The focus of the Erasmus+ Project lies particularly on those competing in Olympic sports outside the major professional leagues, whose athletic careers often constitute full-time commitments but are not accompanied by formal employment status or adequate legal safeguards.

The research highlights the fragmented and inconsistent landscape of athlete social protection across Europe. National approaches vary considerably, from public employment schemes within military or police forces to elite athlete status legislation and isolated, athlete-specific measures. Despite their crucial role in the European sport system, many athletes face legal uncertainty and significant gaps in access to essential social protection, such as health insurance, injury protection, unemployment or maternity support, and pension schemes. Moreover, the research findings underscore a worrying lack of awareness among athletes regarding their rights and available protections. Survey data revealed that the vast majority of athletes feel poorly informed about social protection provisions.

At the same time, the project emphasises the strong interdependence between sport governance, labour rights, and social protection. It calls for recognising elite athletes, especially those outside commercialised professional sport, as workers entitled to basic social protections under national and European legal frameworks.

For those interested, the presentation delivered by the project team at the beginning of the Round Table — providing further details on the research background, key findings and conceptual approach — is available for download under the following LINK.

Round Table: Athletes’ Social Protection – A Key Value Underpinning the European Sport Model?

The subsequent roundtable brought together policymakers, athlete representatives, and experts to explore the role of social protection within the European sport model. A key message emerged early on: while social protection is increasingly recognised in political discourse, it is not yet firmly established as a core value of sport governance in Europe.

Representatives from the European Parliament, including Pandora Dimanopoulou (assistant to MEP Nikos Pappas) and Katarzyna Biniaszczyk (assistant to MEP Bogdan Zdrojewski), outlined how athlete rights — including social protection, occupational health, and dual career support — have been given prominent attention in the forthcoming European Parliament report on the European Sports Model. This was seen as a positive signal that the political momentum for change is growing, even if the report also revealed institutional complexities, such as overlapping responsibilities between different EU institutions.

Ziya Tanyar, representing the Council of Europe, provided insights into how existing legal instruments, such as the European Social Charter, could be leveraged to advance athlete protection. Although these tools have been underutilised in the sports context so far, they offer tangible avenues for governments and stakeholders to improve working conditions, health and safety standards, and social rights for athletes.

Representatives of the current and upcoming EU Council Presidencies highlighted growing political attention to athlete protection. Piotr Markowicz and Ewa Markowicz (Polish Council Presidency) underlined that safeguarding athletes’ well-being and social rights must be a core element of the European sport model. Anders Stein Knudsen (Danish Presidency) confirmed that the issue could feature on the agenda of forthcoming Council meetings, though national discussions in Denmark remain decentralised. Vassos Koutsioundas (Cyprus Sport Organisation) shared a practical example of a national pilot scheme that provides jobs in sport federations to top athletes, supporting their social security and career transition.

With Paulina Tomczyk and Natalia Orive from EU Athletes as well as Walter Palmer from the World Players Association, athletes’ associations contributed critical perspectives, calling for stronger, independent athlete representation in governance processes. They emphasised that internal athlete commissions, while valuable, cannot replace the role of independent unions when it comes to negotiating binding improvements to social protection. The roundtable discussion made it clear that to truly embed social protection as a key value within the European sports model, more explicit legal definitions, stronger institutional cooperation, and effective mechanisms for athlete voice and representation are essential.

Interactive Session: Tools and Instruments for the Transnational Coordination of Athletes’ Social Protection – Reflections on Concrete Measures

In the second half of the workshop, participants focused on practical tools and instruments that could enhance the transnational coordination of athlete social protection across Europe. A central theme was the gap between progressive political declarations and concrete, enforceable measures that tangibly improve athletes’ lives.

Representatives from European sport federations such as Jaejung Jung from the European Volleyball Federation (CEV) and GinoSchilders from Euro Hockey shared examples of existing initiatives, including best practice exchanges, dual career programmes, and the development of common standards for athlete protection. However, both organisations pointed out that their ability to enforce binding rules on national members remains limited.

The discussion also explored broader European instruments. The potential for establishing new sectoral social dialogue committees for professional sports, beyond football, was widely acknowledged. The football sector’s successful example of structured social dialogue was seen as a blueprint for creating similar mechanisms in other sports, provided sufficient political will and stakeholder collaboration can be mobilised.

Further, the European Social Charter’s collective complaint procedure was presented as an underutilised but promising legal avenue for advancing athlete protection, with NGO and trade union involvement offering athletes formal channels to assert their rights at the European level.

Finally, participants agreed that the current political momentum, reflected in policy developments such as the European Parliament report and the growing visibility of athlete rights, presents a rare window of opportunity to advance the topic. However, to translate this momentum into meaningful change, a coordinated, multi-stakeholder approach is essential. Governments, sports bodies, athlete representatives, and EU institutions must collaborate to ensure that social protection becomes a tangible reality for athletes, rather than an abstract political aspiration.

The SOPROS project will continue to build on these discussions and work precisely at this intersection — bringing together key stakeholders, fostering dialogue, and developing practical policy solutions. The Brussels workshop marked a crucial step in this process, and all those interested can look forward to further project events as well as concrete outputs in the coming months.

On October 4, 2023, at the office of the Institute for Sport Governance foundation in Warsaw, a workshop on social protection of athletes of Olympic disciplines in Poland was held, led by Dr Paweł Zembura. The workshop is part of the SOPROS project, which aims to better understand and strengthen the social protection of athletes in European countries.

The participants were important stakeholders in the sports sports system in Poland: representatives of the Institute of Sport - the National Research Institute, the Polish Olympic Committee, the Central Military Sports Team, the Polish Sailing Association, the Academic Sports Association and the Capital City of Warsaw. Some other invited stakeholders withdrew right before the event or were preoccupied with other activities.

During the workshops, talks included:

1. current activities in the field of social protection of athletes in Poland;

2. weaknesses of the sports system in Poland in terms of protection of players and their inclusion in decision-making processes;

3. the development of self-assessment tools to help athletes (and stakeholders) better plan and understand their social protection.

The basic characteristic of the sports system in the context of social protection of athletes is the Ministry of Sport and Tourism scholarship system serves as a "base", an instrument that is supposed to "reward" and protect players. Its limited nature, in the context of social protection for athletes, affects their difficult situation. The outcomes of this situation were discussed at the workshop. It turned out that some of the stakeholders have individual mechanisms for (usually ad hoc) support for athletes, and organizations’ representatives are often not aware of other opportunities available to athletes in the system.

Workshop participants believe in the need for "top-down" regulations regarding the increased role of athletes in the sports system, as well as regarding improved social protection of athletes. Bottom-up processes do not work as athletes in the Polish sports system have very little to say - the athletes’ commissions at sports associations act ostensibly and "consultatively", the sport associations also have control over the players, which results from the regulations in the Sports Act, and the players themselves rarely get involved in matters related to decision-making in the sports system (and not on a strategic level).

A workshop on social protection for Portuguese Olympic sports athletes was held on October 20, 2023, at the Jamor Swimming Pool Complex auditorium in Cruz Quebrada, Lisbon, Portugal. The workshop was organized as a part of the SOPROS project, which aims to improve social protection for athletes in various European countries. The workshop was led by Luiz Haas, Dr. Tiago Ribeiro, and André Calapez.

Representatives of stakeholders in the sports system in Portugal participated in the workshop. The event was attended by organizations such as the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth, Sport Foundation Portugal, Olympic Athletes Commission of the Portuguese Olympic Committee, a national sports federation, and an expert in sports law.

During the meeting, the participants discussed several pressing issues affecting athletes, including challenges that extend into both their personal and professional lives. These issues included a lack of legal protections, financial insecurity, dual career balancing, varying sport typologies, and gaps in post-career transition. The lack of legal frameworks and protections for athletes was identified as a significant challenge that needs to be addressed. The group emphasized the need to establish fair treatment and safeguard athletes' rights. The prevalent issues of irregular income and brief career span in sports were also discussed, and the group emphasized the need to formulate strategies to provide athletes with greater financial stability and security. The intricate task of harmonizing sporting careers with education and the pursuit of a second career was identified as another significant challenge that athletes commonly face. Different sports come with distinct needs and requirements for social support. Therefore, tailoring support systems to the specific demands of each sport emerged as a key consideration during the meeting. The transition period after concluding a sports career was identified as a critical phase where athletes often encounter challenges. Participants underscored the importance of establishing robust post-career support systems to help athletes navigate this period more successfully. The first part of the workshop highlighted the necessity of comprehensive and tailored support structures for athletes. Addressing legal, financial, educational, and transitional aspects is crucial for fostering a more sustainable and supportive environment for athletes across diverse sports.

After the coffee break, the participants were introduced to a proposed self-assessment tool designed for athletes and sports organizations. The tool was presented in the context of social security in Olympic sports. The participants shared their initial impressions of the proposed tool. They suggested that the tool should be designed to empower athletes by providing them with a clear understanding of their social rights, taking into consideration their professional situation and context. It is important that the tool provides awareness of specific 'grey areas' where athletes need to focus their efforts. This includes linking the provider of specific rights to the appropriate organization. Participants also suggested that the tool should allow athletes to simulate different situations and personalize their life-plans to improve their social rights and protections.

On Tuesday, 21 November 2023, a workshop on the social status of athletes in Olympic sports was held at the headquarters of the Croatian Volleyball Federation in Zagreb. The workshop was organised by the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law and its Centre for Sports Law, Sports Policies and Sports Diplomacy - the head of the centre and regional coordinator of the project, Assoc. Prof. Vanja Smokvina.

Participants included Tomislav Družak, State Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of the Republic of Croatia; Josipa Klišanin, Head of the Labour Sector at the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy of the Republic of Croatia; Biserka Vrbek, prof. Romana Caput Jogunica and Snježana Pejčić on behalf of the Croatian Olympic Committee along with Blanka Vlašić, President of the NOC of CRoatia Athletes' Commission; Frane Žanić, President and Valentina Bifflin, Director of the Croatian Volleyball Federation; Zoran Primorac, President of the Croatian Table Tennis Federation; Luka Jakovčev on behalf of the Croatian Water Polo Federation; athlete Bruno Erent on behalf of the Croatian Athletics Federation; Mario Jurić, President of the Croatian "Football Union"; Marija Anzulović on behalf of the Croatian Olympic Club; Suzana Šop, Secretary General of the Sports Association of the City of Zagreb and Katja Luketić, Secretary of the Sports Association of Primorje - Gorski Kotar County.

The aim of the workshop was to present the SOPROS project to sports stakeholders and athletes, discuss the issue of social and legal status of athletes in Olympic sports in the Republic of Croatia and present the self-assessment tools that the project team members will use to collect data from sports stakeholders in order to draw their conclusions and proposals for improving the status of athletes at the level of the European Union and Member States with the support of partners - the International Labour Organisation (ILO), EU Athletes (Athletes' Associations); EASE (Association of Employers in Sport) and the European Olympic Academies as project partners.