Oct 17, 2025
Last week, the European Parliament adopted its report on “The Role of EU Policies in Shaping the European Sport Model.” The European Athletes and Players Association (EAPA) actively contributed to the consultation process, ensuring that the voices of athletes were heard in shaping this important policy milestone.
EAPA strongly welcomes Parliament’s recognition that the European Sport Model must operate in full compliance with EU law and case law, upholding transparency, accountability and good governance. The resolution confirms that sport in Europe should not exist outside the principles of the European social model, but rather reflect them: grounded in solidarity, fairness, and respect for workers’ rights.
In response to the historic vote, Paulina Tomczyk, General Secretary of EAPA, said: “We welcome the European Parliament’s recognition that athletes’ rights are an integral pillar of the European Sport Model. We thank MEPs for standing with players in calling for collective representation, social dialogue and the realisation of labour and human rights for all athletes across Europe.”
As outlined, the report acknowledges athletes as workers and athlete associations as legitimate social partners in the governance of sport. This marks a significant step forward in embedding social dialogue within European sport, ensuring that the athletes who make it all possible are properly represented in decisions that affect their careers and livelihoods.
Overview by FIFPro Europe
EAPA particularly welcomes the Parliament’s call for fair remuneration, decent working conditions, and comprehensive well-being safeguards across all levels of sport. These elements are essential to building a sustainable, values-based European Sport Model that protects both the integrity of sport and the dignity of those within it.
We commend the Parliament’s leadership and remain committed to working constructively with the European Commission as it prepares its forthcoming Communication. A European Sport Model that reflects EU core values such as democracy, the rule of law and human rights, is the foundation for a legitimate, inclusive and sustainable future for sport in Europe.
For more on EAPA’s contributions, click here.
Apr 17, 2024
The EU Sport Forum is an annual event organised by the European Commission to support the structured dialogue with the sport stakeholders. It is a key event offering a platform allowing sport organisations, representatives of the EU Institutions and Member States to exchange views on the current and future sport policies. This year´s Forum took place in Liege, Belgium, on the 16th and 17th of April and gathered more than 350 participants. It focused on some of the most topical issues in the sport sector, such as integrity, sustainability and gender equality.
EU Athletes was actively involved in the event, representing the views of the organised athletes. Our General Secretary took part in the panel discussion ¨Fair play: integrity and values of athletes¨ alongside experts from organisations such as UNODC and the Council of Europe. Paulina presented the PROtect Integrity Online project, emphasising the work that the player associations are doing to fight against match-fixing. She also spoke about the issues such as the lack of respect of athlete rights, including freedom of association and labour rights, and poor governance, that need to be addressed to protect the integrity of athletes and sport.
May 3, 2023
On the 2-3rd of May, EU Sport Forum, organised by the European Commission and the Swedish Presidency took place in Stockholm. The Forum is a key event for the stakeholders in the sport sector, gathering over 400 participants for the 2023 edition. This year’s edition focused on topics such as good governance, integrity and sustainability of sport.
Paulina Tomczyk, the General Secretary of EU Athletes, represented the organised athletes in the panel discussion ‘Good governance and athlete rights’. She emphasised the importance of freedom of association for the athletes, not only in the context of forming and joining athlete associations, but also sport organisations and governments engaging with those bodies when it comes to decision making in sport.
‘Without athletes there is no sport. Collectively, athletes have a huge power of change. They can reform the sport governance into the system compatible with good governance. The goal is to have an equal partnership and cooperation between athlete and sport organisation, with decision making based on social dialogue and collective negotiations, with respect the rights of athletes and all stakeholders’ – said Paulina during her intervention.
Sep 25, 2022
EU Athletes Board member Tom Parsons traveled to Prague earlier in this week to participate in the opening of the European Week of Sport 2022. Following an invitation from the European Commission, Tom was able to present EU Athletes campaign fulfiling the pledge supporting the #healthylifestyle4all initiative.
This event was a unique opportunity to present the work done by EU Athletes and its members during the last couple of weeks within the Athletes for #healthylifestyle4all campaign. By signing the pledge we have made the commitment to the European Commission to spread the message as much as possible and we believe the support of our players will tremendously help.
Tom Parsons
Jun 17, 2022
The European Commission and the French Presidency organised the most important annual event in the European sport sector in Lille (France) on 16th and 17th of June. During two days, sports stakeholders from around Europe shared their views on the future of sport policy in Europe.
EU Athletes has participated actively in the discussion, with our Vice-President, Natalia Orive, participating in a panel discussion on athletes empowerment on the second day of the Forum.
“If you’re not bargaining, your begging” Natalia Orive, EU athletes Vice-president.
During her presentation she highlighted the importance of independent athletes association in the decision making processes as a way to improve the governance of sport organisation and empower athletes:
“We have seen some progress in the recent year but the situation is still not ideal. The Covid pandemic is a clear indicator of athletes’ empowerment. In a lot of sports and countries basics health and safety measures were not even discussed with players. In 2022 it’s not acceptable anymore” and she added “EU Athletes has long been striving to ensure that the athletes we represent enjoy the same fundamental rights as any other European citizen and worker. This includes the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, which together lay the foundation for athlete empowerment”.
Jun 14, 2022
Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th of June EU Athletes participated in both consultative committee meeting and governing board of EPAS. This first in person meeting after 2 years of pandemic was a unique opportunity for the organisation to present our ongoing work in certain area where the Council of Europe is active (fight against online abuse, protection of children and match-fixing).
This in person meeting also the opportunity to celebrate the 15th anniversary of EPAS.
