Mar 6, 2023
On 15 and 16th of February 2023, the first project meeting of the SOPROS project took place on the campus of the project coordinator – German Sport University in Cologne. It is an Erasmus+ project co-funded by the European Union. The aim of the SOPROS project is to promote integrity and values in sports by assessing, evaluating and implementing athletes’ social protection in Olympic sports.
The SOPROS project is a three-year project ending in December 2025. It is a continuation of the work on the previous Erasmus+ EMPLOYS project on athletes’ social protection that was recently finished in December 2022. The final report from EMPLOYS project ‘Good Governance in the Employment Relations of Athletes in Olympic Sports in Europe: Understanding – Evaluating – Improving’ is published here.
The project consortium involves both academic partners and policy partners, including EU Athletes, which ensures a balanced exchange of knowledge and expertise. Close cooperation of academic and policy partners as well as relevant stakeholders is ensured at every stage of the project. German Sport University Cologne is a coordinator of the project. University of Rijeka (Croatia), Universidade Europeia (Portugal), Edge Hill University (Great Britain), Institute for Sport Governance (Poland) are academic partners. Apart from EU Athletes, European Olympic Academies, and European Association of Sport Employers are policy partners of the project. International Labour Organization is an associated partner of the project.
The SOPROS project intends to collect unique data about athletes’ social protection in Olympic sports by developing practicable Self-Assessment Tools for athletes, sport governing bodies and public authorities. The collected data will be then analysed and presented in an Evaluation report. Afterwards, a process of negotiations in Olympic elite sports will be piloted to understand its potential benefits and challenges. During the project two rounds of National workshops will be hosted in several European countries as well as one EU-Level Multi-Stakeholder Workshop and three public Conferences.
Progress and important updates on Erasmus+ SOPROS project will be shared on the EU Athletes webpage throughout the duration of the project.
Jan 17, 2023
EU Athletes is happy to announce that PROtect Integrity Online project is close to the start, scheduled for early February 2023. PROtect Integrity Online project is an Erasmus+ project co-funded by the European Union. It will focus on researching, developing, implementing and evaluating the best ways to deliver integrity education, particularly related to fighting match-fixing and corruption in sport.
The project consortium is composed of 10 members, including 8 player associations representing 5 major team sports:
- AJSF (men’s futsal, Spain)
- AJFSF (women’s futsal, Spain)
- RPI (rugby union, Ireland)
- HSF (handball, Denmark)
- GIBA (basketball, Italy)
- AIP (volleyball, Italy)
- SNB (basketball, France)
- AJPH (handball, France)
EU Athletes acts as the coordinator of the project, and the University of Rennes 2 is the research institution.
PROtect Integrity Online is a continuation of more than a decade of EU Athletes’ work relating to match fixing and sports betting integrity, including two Erasmus+ projects: PROtect Integrity and PROtect Integrity Plus.
The first phase will consist of research tasks and will be concluded with a report on mapping and recommendations for education. Based on these recommendations and the partners’ output, online educational materials will be created during the second phase. The third phase will cover the implementation of the education via team visits complemented by online materials and social media. Finally, education will be evaluated and good practices will be put together into the Best Practice Booklet. Overall, the match-fixing education will be delivered by player associations to at least 5,800 athletes in Europe, through the blended face-to-face and online approach.
On February 9th, 2023, the project team will meet in Paris for an official kick-off meeting.
Dec 22, 2022
PROLead is a collaborative partnership project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and coordinated by EU Athletes, with German Sport University Cologne and 8 player
associations from different countries and sports (GPA, RPI, PPF, FNASS, UBE, TCA, AJFS, AJJV) as partners. Focusing on the topic of dual careers of athletes, the aim of the project was 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.
After the Dissemination Conference which was an opportunity to share good practices and results of the three years of cooperation, the project is now coming to the conclusion at the end of the year. Experiences gathered during different stages of the project are presented in the final intellectual output How to Set Up a Leadership Course? Practical Guide for Player Associations. Building on the research phase, the design and implementation of both European and National Leadership Courses, as well as the evaluation and participant’s feedback, the Guide offers player associations or other stakeholders guidance and advice related to leadership education.
How to Set Up a Leadership Course? Practical Guide for Player Associations
For more information contact Paulina Tomczyk, PROLead Project Manager paulinatomczyk@euathletes.org
Dec 19, 2022
ProMobility project, financed by the European Union and focusing on exchanges and mobility between staff of player associations from Europe and South Africa, was implemented by EU Athletes between January 2021 and December 2022. The aim of the project was to support learning between player associations
The project was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to changes in the work programme, introducing Online Exchanges and limiting the number of job shadowing visits that were implemented. Nevertheless, the project helped to identify, share and expand good practice in supporting elite athletes through their associations. The player associations participating in the project represent more than 10,000 elite athletes. Therefore, the project positively influences these players as it helps to enhance the quality of work and support that the player associations can offer them.
The main topics of the project were:
- Player recruitment and engagement (as members of player associations)
- Player personal development
- Commercial development and marketing
- Communications and media
- Response to the Covid-19 pandemic
These topics have been explored through online and in-person exchanges between the staff of player associations and correspond to the chapters of the Good Practice Booklet. The purpose of the booklet was to gather and share good practices identified. Any athlete association or player union, as well as any other organization whose aim is to support athletes, can benefit from ideas and practical advice that has been gathered during the ProMobility project.
Consult ProMobility Good Practice Booklet
For more information contact Paulina Tomczyk, ProMobility Project Manager paulinatomczyk@euathletes.org
Dec 19, 2022
After several months of consultations and cooperation, EU Athletes is proud to publish the newest Common Position Paper of the Member of European Elite Athletes Association. Following on previous documents published in 2016 and 2018, the Paper presents the agreed positions of player unions and associations representing over 25,000 athletes in various sports and countries across Europe on 12 topics that have been identified as fundamental for professional and elite athletes:
1. Athlete rights are human rights
2. Athletes as workers
3. Good governance in sport
4. Economic dimension of sport
5. Match-fixing
6. Anti-doping
7. Dual career, personal development and wellbeing
8. Access to justice
9. Women’s sport
10. Recovery and sustainability of the sport sector
11. ‘European Sport Model’ according to organised athletes
12. Solidarity, partnerships and cooperation
With the 2022 Common Position Paper, EU Athletes reiterates that every athlete has a right to a sporting environment that is well governed and respect their rights as people, citizens and workers.
We also believe that sport can and should have a positive impact on the wider society, contributing to the promotion of fundamental values and fostering development.
Paulina Tomczyk, the General Secretary, said ‘Our Common Position Paper is an important tool that strengthen the voice of organised European athletes. Thanks to this document, we are able to advocate and defend the positions agreed by legitimate representatives of several thousands of athletes at the European and international level. We are committed to working together with governments, international organisations and sport organisations to achieve the goals set up in the document.’
2022 Common Position Paper
For further information contact Paulina Tomczyk, General Secretary paulinatomczyk@euathletes.org
