Sport Politics, Sport Development, Leisure Studies

Our Institute is the stage for the sport policy and leisure science activities of the German Sport University Cologne. With our cooperation partners, we cover political, social and sports science findings. This creates our own core of sports policy thinking. The Institute's team offers a wide range of teaching and research opportunities for students, academics and all other interested parties.

The intertwining of sport politics with society, political influence, and the processes of Europeanization and globalization continues to reinforce the importance of sports development. Our institute promotes research and teaching in sports politics and leisure studies in cooperation with national and international partners. Our areas of focus include sport politics, sport development (sports in development work), and leisure and tourism research, with a particular emphasis on Europe. The institute runs the Forum Sport Politics, organizes annual symposia, and has been affiliated with the UNESCO Chair in “Sport for Development, Peace, and Environment” since 2024. For over 10 years, the IESF has coordinated the master’s program “International Sport Development and Politics” (13 modules, master’s thesis), which teaches problem-solving skills and fosters academic understanding.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mittag  (director) and Prof. Dr. Karen Petry (deputy)