Forum Sport Politics

Sport Politics Symposia

The Sport Politics Symposia have been held annually since 2009. The symposium supports the process of differentiation and institutionalisation of sports policy studies as an independent academic discipline. The events aim both to take stock of existing research in the field of sport policy and to develop perspectives for future sport policy. 

The symposium brings together sports scientists, academics specialising in political science, researchers from other disciplines, and experts from the field of sports policy. The symposia, organised primarily by the Institute for European Sport Development and Leisure Research, each focus on a core theme with fundamental or topical relevance.

• 2023 Cologne, Sport Policy in Germany in Transition, expert workshop
• 2022 Berlin, Democracy in sports federations – Changing patterns of participation within federations
• 2020 Bochum, Towards the ‘Sports Metropolis’ of the Ruhr in North Rhine-Westphalia? Trends in the development of sport in the Ruhr region
• 2018 Cologne, Sport for people with disabilities from a sport policy perspective: structures, stakeholders and areas of conflict
• 2017 Cologne, Labour relations and representations in sport
• 2015 Cologne, Small Worlds: Football at the grassroots level from a comparative European and global perspective
• 2014 Hamburg, The Role of Sport in Health Policy: Approaches, Actors and Areas of Conflict
• 2013 Bochum, Boycotts and lockouts in sport. Sport and politics at odds
• 2012 Hamburg, Interest Mediation and Lobbying in Sport
• 2011 Cologne, Major Sporting Events as a Challenge for Sports Policy
• 2010 Cologne, Sports policy between governance and regulation: the power or powerlessness of sport in politics
• 2009 Göttingen, Sports Policy as an Emerging Field of Research