Mar 2, 2021
EU Athletes is proud to announce its recently concluded cooperation agreement with Johan Cruyff Institute, a recognized institution educating athletes, sport and business professional to become leaders in Sport Management. Johan Cruyff Institute will offer EU Athletes’ members special conditions to access its academic training in Sport Management, Sport Marketing and Sponsorship, Football Business and Coaching as a result of the agreement signed between the two entities.
“I believe our cooperation will have a direct and positive effect on many athletes that we represent, by expanding their future opportunities and therefore improving their well-being.” – said Paulina Tomczyk, the General Secretary at EU Athletes. “For EU Athletes and for our members, education, personal development and dual career opportunities for athletes are key priorities. This partnership will facilitate and promote our member athletes’ participation in the wide range of programs that Johan Cruyff Institute offers,” she added. “It is essential that athletes gain knowledge, develop interests and skills, and explore their identity outside of the game. I believe our cooperation will have a direct and positive effect on many athletes that we represent, by expanding their future opportunities and therefore improving their well-being.”
Dec 17, 2020
EU Athletes welcomes the General Court Judgment in Case T-93/18 International Skating Union v Commission announced yesterday. The judgment confirms that the rules of the International Skating Union (ISU) providing for severe penalties for athletes taking part in speed skating events not recognised by it are contrary to EU competition law.
The decision is the result of a courageous decision of two Dutch speed skaters, Mark Tuitert and Niels Kerstholt to challenge their sports restrictive and unfair rules. The General Court upheld that, by depriving the athletes of a chance to compete in commercial events by imposing unfair and disproportionately punitive rules, the ISU abused its dominant market position to pursue its own commercial interests to the detriment of athletes and organizers of competing events.
Paulina Tomczyk, EU Athletes General Secretary said: ‘The General Court’s decision reaffirms that the sport organizations engaging in an economic activity have to operate within the EU law. The ruling provides welcomed clarity of the limits of the concept of the ‘Specificity of sport’. It’s an important step towards making the global sport governance fairer and making sure it respects athletes’ rights and interests.’
EU Athletes has been supporting Mark and Niels since their initial complaint back in 2014. We have represented the interest of the European athletes that are or might be affected by similar unfair rules imposed by their sport governing bodies. The skaters and EU Athletes intervened in the proceeding at the General Court in support of the Commission.
We would like to express our thanks to Bas Braeken and Jade Versteeg from Bureau Brandeis, who represented us and the skaters as third interested parties in the case and as well as to Ben van Rompuy for his ongoing support.
EU Athletes President, Brendon Batson OBE underlined the crucial role of the athletes in bringing a positive change in the world of sport: ‘Once again, we applaud Mark and Niels for their bravery and commitment to pursuing this case, which will significantly improve the situation of thousands of athletes around the world and help to modernise sports competitions. It is also an important message to sport federations that they should work in partnership with the stakeholders, especially the athletes, to develop the rules and the sport itself’.
Statement
Dec 15, 2020
PEAK is an EU funded international project under ICSSPE’s leadership aiming to develop coaching policy recommendations for use by sport federations, coaching bodies and governments. The project brings together a unique consortium of expert partners, including the International Council for Coaching Excellence, The German Sport University Cologne, European Elite Athletes Association, Finnish Olympic Committee, Sport Ireland Coaching, Swiss Federal Institute of Sport, and the Foundation of Sport Education and Information, Estonia.
PEAK will offer, for the first time, a comprehensive picture of coaching and coach education across Europe, and beyond. It will tell us about coaching roles, responsibilities, and status, as well as policies, programmes and decision-making processes.
As such, the PEAK project is pleased to announce that two milestone publications are now available for download via the PEAK website:
Mapping Sport Coaching Policy in Europe: Research Report – The Research Report sets the context and background for the project. It provides an overview of the ‘state of the art’ in Coaching, informs about methodological considerations for good practice analysis, and makes recommendations for concept and content development.
Preliminary Recommendations for European Sport Coaching Policy and Validation Methodology – The Methodology Document for Good Practice Analysis and the Framework Development of PEAK is based on the results of the Literature Review. The report provides concrete recommendations for the development of the framework.
The project is planned to run from January 2019 to December 2021.
For more information please visit the website at www.peak-coachingeu.com
Article source: https://www.icce.ws/news-and-newsletters/news/project-peak-mapping-sport-coaching-policy-report-and-preliminary-recommendations-for-europe.html
Dec 1, 2020
PROLead is a collaborative partnership Erasmus+ project coordinated by EU Athletes. Partnership include German Sport University Cologne and 8 player associations from different countries and sports. Focusing on the topic of dual careers of athletes, the project aims to enhance leadership skills of athletes, as well as volunteers and staff of player associations, by designing and implementing leadership courses at the European and national level.
The work plan of the 3-year project (January 2020-December 2022) has been affected by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. While the project team was dedicated to implementing the activities as initially planned, it was necessary to adjust the timing and the format of the events to adapt to the current situation.
The first research and consultation phase have been closed, with the Report following the desktop research and literature review of leadership education for athletes completed earlier this year. Currently, the project staff is working on preparation of the European Leadership Course, which will be designed following the recommendations from the Report, as well as input of player associations and their experiences related to delivering education sessions to athletes efficiently.
The European Leadership Course will start in January 2021 and will be delivered via online sessions to athlete associations volunteers and staff.
Jan 14, 2020
EU Athletes took part in the Seminar about “Specificity of Sport”, organized by the European Commission on the 17th of December. The productive day was organized in three different panels about the definition of specificity of sport, how national institutions are taking it into account and how should it be protected.
no need to describe this panel, better to say generally who was taking part, what kind of organizations, how many participants etc
In the first panel, which theme theme was “How to define specificity?”, EU Athletes joined the discussion with Antoine Duval (asser Institute), Niels Nygaard (Vice President of EOC), Ana Garcia Castillo (DG COMP, European Commission), Julien Zylberstein (UEFA) and Alexander Bielefeld (FIFPro). The interesting exchange of opinions from different stakeholders in the sport industry has been very stimulating and engaging, raising many questions from the audience.
EU Athletes, as representative of professional players, remarks that, whenever the principle of specificity of sport is applied, the rights and the interests of the athletes must be considered and protected in order to take fair and equal decisions for them.
