On March 31, EU Athletes attended the 3rd International Sport4Impact Conference held in Milan, Italy. The event brought together more than 60 people to discuss the role of finance and the private sector in designing and scaling policies and programs to drive social change through sport. The previous day, on 30 March, EU Athletes also attended a smaller preliminary event to exchange ideas on establishing regulations to prevent and combat crime in sport in close coordination with law enforcement.
During the conference, representatives from sports organisations, public bodies and practitioners explored opportunities to better connect and collaborate with financial and private operators. Created by event IIISSS in cooperation with other partners and with the support of UNESCO. The Sport4Impact Conference provided a venue to showcase potential solutions as well as current cases and tools developed by the finance and private sector. Thank you to the organizers Paolo Bertaccini and Sabrina Vettorato for inviting the EU Athletes to the conference.
EU Athletes advocated, on behalf of its members, the recognition of the role and importance of athlete and player associations in preventing competitive manipulation, corruption and other forms of wrongdoing in sport.
Player associations support athletes when it comes to their personal development, training, mental health and well-being. Education is a fundamental element in crime prevention in sport, and player associations are pioneers and leaders in developing and delivering education to athletes. Training is given to athletes by people they know and trust, so it has a greater impact on athletes.
Players’ associations also work to bargain collectively, provide better working conditions and ensure that athletes play sports and their rights are respected, which together positively affects the overall well-being of athletes and therefore makes them less vulnerable to participating in competition. manipulation. The work of player associations can further help improve the accountability of sports management and sports organizations to athletes.
At the same time, other sports stakeholders should understand, respect and support the essential role of player associations. Crime in sports continues to spread to new places and take new forms. In order to effectively combat these mistakes, national, European and international stakeholders should come together and exchange their knowledge and practices.
Accordingly, EU Athletes are currently coordinating an Erasmus+ project. Maintain Integrity Online It is co-financed by the European Union. The project brings together 8 player associations representing the 5 major sports and the University of Rennes 2 as a research institution. PROtect Integrity Online focuses on researching, developing, implementing and evaluating the best ways to train players in integrity, especially with regard to the fight against match-fixing and corruption in sports.
Wednesday, 12 April 2023