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National Sports Governance Observer. Final Report NATIONAL SPORTS GOVERNANCE OBSERVER Final report November 2018 Arnout Geeraert (ed.) Play the Game 2 www.playthegame.org NATIONAL SPORTS GOVERNANCE OBSERVER Play the Game 3 www.playthegame.org Titel National Sports Governance Observer. Final report Main author Arnout Geeraert (ed.) Authors of national chapters Cyprus: Christos Anagnostopoulos. Denmark: Jens Alm. Flanders, Belgium: Arnout Geeraert. Germany: Jürgen Mittag, Till Müller-Schoell, Ninja Putzmann. The Netherlands: Frank van Eekeren, Rutger de Kwaasteniet. Norway: Oskar Solenes, Hallgeir Gammelsæter, Birnir Egilsson. Poland: Pawel Zembura, Aleksandra Goldys, Marlena Syliwoniuk. Romania: Florian Petrica, Ermina Burciu. Brazil: Luiz Gustavo Nascimento Haas, Luis Felipe Monteiro de Barros. Montenegro: Marko Begovic. Reference Geeraert, A. (ed.) (2018). National Sports Governance Observer. Final report. Aarhus: Play the Game: Danish Institute for Sports Studies. Cover photo Colourbox Layout Play the Game Print Mercoprint Digital A/S Edition 2. edition, Aarhus, November 2018. (Minor corrections, most significantly on pages 105 and 107) ISBN 978-87-93784-05-5 (pdf) 978-87-93784-06-2 Published by Play the Game c/o Danish Institute for Sports Studies Frederiksgade 78B, 2. sal DK-8000 Aarhus C P: +45 3266 1030 E: [email protected] W: www.idan.dk Quoting from this report is allowed with proper acknowledgements. The National Sports Governance Observer has received funding from the European Commission under the programme Erasmus+. The Commission is not responsible for any communication and publication by the project or any use that may be made from information contained therein. Play the Game 4 www.playthegame.org Content A foreword and summary from Play the Game ............................................................................ 6 INTRODUCING THE NATIONAL SPORTS GOVERNANCE OBSERVER ................................. 10 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Project background .......................................................................................................................... 13 Methodology .................................................................................................................................... 15 References ......................................................................................................................................... 29 GENERAL FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS ................................................................................ 32 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 33 Good governance in the NSGO partner countries ...................................................................... 33 Good governance in the five common types of federations ...................................................... 41 Implications for policymakers ........................................................................................................ 43 Implications for further research ................................................................................................... 45 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 46 References ......................................................................................................................................... 47 REPORTS FROM PROJECT PARTNERS ....................................................................................... 48 Country report: Cyprus ................................................................................................................... 50 Country report: Denmark ............................................................................................................... 68 Country report: Flanders, Belgium .............................................................................................. 100 Country report: Germany ............................................................................................................. 122 Country report: The Netherlands ................................................................................................ 141 Country report: Norway ............................................................................................................... 161 Country report: Poland ................................................................................................................. 178 Country report: Romania .............................................................................................................. 200 REPORTS FROM ASSOCIATED EXTERNAL PARTNERS .......................................................... 221 Country report: Brazil ................................................................................................................... 223 Country report: Montenegro ........................................................................................................ 246 Play the Game 5 www.playthegame.org By Jens Sejer Andersen1 A foreword and summary from Play the Game With constantly accelerating speed, the issue of good governance has climbed to the top of the sports political agenda over the past few years. Not only have specific case stories and police actions against international sports federations drawn worldwide public and political attention, there is also a growing awareness that the failures of international sports governance are long-lasting and systemic. This realisation comes at a time when the European and international sports sectors are subject to great changes and challenges. At the grassroots level, local, regional and national sports organisations all over Europe are increasingly expected to deliver on larger societal objectives such as promoting sports participation, physical activity and health, social inclusion and gender equality in return for public support. Good governance in national sports organisations is key to enabling the organisations to deliver on sport for all, elite sport as well as larger societal objectives. And how is European sport equipped to tackle all these challenges? Are the governance standards adequate for bringing the traditional sports federation model well into the future? This report does not pretend to give a final answer, but it does raise a lot of political perspectives and specific information needed by those who wish to set the course for sport in the years to come. Over the following almost 265 pages you will find the outcomes of the research carried out under the ‘National Sports Governance Observer: Benchmarking sports governance across national boundaries’ project (NSGO). The main aim of the project was to assist and inspire national sports federations to enhance the quality of their governance by measuring governance and building capacity. It received a 383,000 euro grant from the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union and further support from the Danish Parliament and the Council of Europe. The researchers first developed the National Sports Governance Observer tool and then applied it to eight or more sports federations in the countries of the eight official and two associated external research partners. The countries are Cyprus, Denmark, Belgium (Flanders), Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Romania for the official partners, and Brazil and Montenegro for the associated external partners. The report also lays out the methodology underpinning the NSGO indicators. The NSGO indicators, meta-data sheets, and implementation instructions are presented in a separate, supplementing report, which can be downloaded from the official project website: www.nationalsportsgovernanceobserver.org. New insights into sports governance If there is one thing the findings demonstrate above all, it is that the degree of good governance in sports federations varies considerably depending on the home country (see figure). 1 International director, Play the Game Play the Game 6 www.playthegame.org Figure: Overall NSGO index scores – all countries 90% 78% 80% 70% 65% 60% 60% 54% 50% 44% 37% 40% 33% 30% 32% 27% 30% 20% 10% 0% Sports federations in Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands mostly achieve good to very good scores. Flemish federations generally achieve average to good scores. The federations in the other countries achieve mostly average to (very) weak scores. Achieving a low score does not automatically render a federation ineffective, illegitimate, or unethical. However, the weaker the score, the less likely that federation is to be effective, legitimate and ethical. In the following chapters, you will both find a clear and holistic overview over the general findings across all countries, as well as chapters on each participating nation. The country chapters demonstrate that once you have established the facts about the actual standards of governance in each federation, you have taken a valuable first step for improving federations’ governance. Each chapter lists a number of specific policy recommendations for enhancing good governance. Positive developments and challenges In spite of the great variety between the countries, there are also some overall trends that draw special attention and may inspire policy makers all over the world. On the positive side, Play the Game has noted a remarkable shift in the political atmosphere surrounding
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