ERASMUS+ Understanding, Evaluating, and Improving Good Governance

This collaborative partnership aims at improving good governance in the employment relations of athletes in Olympic sports by providing, evaluating and sharing evidence based information, practices and recommendations in an important, yet largely neglected, subdomain of sport and governance.The project team, consisting of five academic partners and two practice-oriented partners, both umbrella organisations representing essential parts of the sports sector in this certain field, will provide evidence based policy recommendations for sport governing bodies from the local to the global level as well as for national public authorities and EU institutions.

The project is structured around three specific goals, all of which are attained through different phases and methodologies. These goals are:

1. Understanding - establishing an evidence base of the legal and socio-political landscape defining the employment relations of athletes in Olympic sports in 29 European countries and the European Union;
2. Evaluating - assessing the current practice across the continent;
3. Improving - formulating and implementing concrete policy recommendations for key stakeholders.

Building on a rigorous and participatory methodology, the expertise and unique network of the project team, this collaborative partnership will inform substantial and sustainable policy change on all levels of governance. The results empower athletes for a secure and successful career in sport and beyond.

Project partners (academic)

• University of Rijeka (Pravi Fakultet Sveucilista u Rijeci), Croatia
• Universidade Europeia, Portugal
• Edge Hill University, Great Britain
• Institute for Sport Governance, Poland

Partner (stakeholder representation)

• European Elite Athletes Association (EU Athletes)
• European Olympic Academies

The Final Report "Good Governance in the Employment Relations of Athletes in Olympic Sports in Europe: Understanding - Evaluating - Improving" is the main academic outcome of the project.

• The interdisciplinary study includes the key findings of the Fact Report and an analysis of legal and socio-political frameworks of the nation state and beyond ("understanding").
• In a second part, it introduces the Good Governance Concept and 27 Principles of Good Governance in the employment relations of athletes ("Evaluating").
• The final part ("improving") analyses the current situation to inform dimension-specific stakeholder recommendations. Eight analytical theses summarise the conceptual and empirical findings leading to the formulation of general stakeholder recommendations.

Download the Final Report

Summary of the Analytical Theses

This Interim Fact Report provides a ground-breaking and comparative analysis of the employment relations of athletes in Olympic sports in 29 European countries. On the basis of national expert reports in the 27 EU member states, the United Kingdom and Norway, a comprehensive analysis of the legal and socio-political landscape of the situation of elite athletes is carried out. The rich data and the comparative design provide an initial understanding of the complex topic of athlete employment relations. Some analytical conclusions with regards to the influence of national settings, with their respective sport as well as labour and welfare systems, change dynamics and potential ways for institutional reforms are derived from the key findings.

Version 1.1 (April 2022, official publication): Download the study

Version 1.0 (December 2021): Download the study

The second project output, the Evaluation Report, establishes a definition of good governance in the employment relations of athletes in Olympic sports. The study consists of a normative-ethical concept of athlete employment relations rights. Against the theoretical concept, 27 principles of good governance are formualted as athlete rights. Good governance in athlete employment relations is understood as the fulfillment of these rights. All project partners equally contributed to this study. Stakeholders from sport governance and the political institutions were asked to provide feedback on the 27 principles via a stakeholder survey.

The revised and updated version of the Evaluation Report is published as part of the Final Report.

Download the interim report

Download the Final Report

Defining Good Governance in the Employment Relations of Athletes in Olympic Sports: Open Forum

The aim of this event was to widen and deepen the ongoing debate about what constitutes good governance in athlete relations. The project team presented its interim findings as well as the draft concept and principles of good governance. A keynote and two panel debates engaged in an open discussion about the current state of athlete relations in south-eastern European countries, good practice and shortcomings, as well as potentials for improvement.

Speakers include:

• Blanka Vlašić (EOC Athletes' Commission)
• Zoran Primorac (ITTF Athletes' Commission & Croatian Olympians Club)
• Kaveh Mehrabi (IOC Athletes' Department)
• Caradh O'Donovan (Global Athlete)
• Raša Sraka Vuković & Petra Robnik (Slovenian NOC Athletes' Commission & Athletes Career Center)
• Walter Palmer (Centre for Sport and Human Rights)
• Biserka Vrbek (Croatian Olympic Committee)
• Krešimir Šamija (Croatian Ministry of Tourism and Sport)
• Miloš Milenković (Serbian Olympic Committee)
• Borut Kolarič (Slovenian Olympic Committee)
• Rožle Prezelj (Government of Slovenia)

Programme

Good Governance in the Employment Relations of Athletes in Olympic Sports in Europe

Part 1: 17 June 2022: This MSE5 was hosted by the Institute for Sport Governance in Warsaw (Poland). The project team presented their current findings on the evaluation of good governance in the employment relations of athletes in Olympic sports in Europe.

The focus of the event and its two panel debates was on two dimensions of employment relations: income and commercial opportunities, particularly in the context of Eastern Europe.

Programme

Part 2: 20 September 2022: As the second part of this Multipler Sport Event, a specific student seminar was hosted at the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw. The project team invited students and elite athletes to discuss the current findings and potential solutions for the future of elite sport governance in Poland.

Radio report from 21 August 2021

About the introduction of the EMPLOYS project: to the article(2021-06-18)

About the MSE1: to the radio report

• News
• Newsletter

To the article

Read the summary of the conference, written by the European Olympic Academies, here.

See the report of the Croatian National TV Kanal Ri here.