Good governance in Sport: comparative law aspects

Abstract

Following the major scandals that have recently stained the reputation of the world of professional sports, it has become clear that rules should be set out in order to ensure that sports organisations are governed in a proper and ethical manner. While the Sport Movement engaged in a major reform process, especially at the level of regional and international sports federations, States in Europe also consider it necessary to regulate in the field of sports governance in its micro-sense, namely the organisation and management within sports organisations. As a result, one is witnessing the emergence of a new trend among European States to include sports governance as a topic of Sports Governance in its macro sense, namely the relationship between the State and the Sport Movement. In doing so, States have adopted all kinds of measures. While examining different types of measures, ranging from compulsory codes of conduct or covenants on ethical sports to voluntary codes on good governance and selfevaluation tools, this paper will in particular focus on mandatory codes on sports governance, namely a measure designed to encourage good governance within sports organisations by making public funding conditional upon compliance with a defined set of sports governance requirements.