The legitimacy crisis in international sports governance
Motion for a resolution [draft]
Tabled by Mr. Mogens Jensen and other members of the Assembly
International sports federations (ISFs) have an important function as global regulators of sport. They have
provided the necessary order and structure to the complex sports world and played a key role in the
development of sports practice.
But today the ISFs are facing a crisis of legitimacy. Huge financial flows generated by sports competitions
and events, coupled with inadequate systems of checks and balances and a sort of feudalisation of
powers in place, gave rise to widespread corruption and mismanagement. This situation has led
stakeholders to contest the legitimacy of ISFs and the scale of corruption in the world of athletics,
revealed on 9 November 2015 by the report of the independent commission set up by the World Anti-
Doping Agency, should convince even the more sceptics that it is about time to react.
In a recent report, “Play the Game” concludes that the legitimacy crisis in international sports governance
is caused, first and foremost, by flawed institutional design, and in particular by a lack of robust control
mechanisms that allow both member federations and external actors to control international sports
federations. The many worrying findings include the following:
Only 12 out of 35 federations publish externally audited annual financial reports on their website.
In only 23 federations do elections take place according to clear and objective procedures and
are secret ballots used.
In none of the federations does the selection of host candidates for major sport events take place
according to a transparent and objective process.
In order to regain its legitimacy, ISFs must engage in thorough institutional reforms to install more
effective fraud prevention and control mechanisms, but also to change the patterns of their policy and
decision-making processes, seeking to ensure transparency and accountability and make these
processes more inclusive. ISFs should also pay more attention to the human rights dimension of sport
and seek to strengthen the respect of human dignity and fundamental rights through their action.
The Parliamentary Assembly should examine how the Council of Europe, its member States, the
international sports federations and other stakeholders can follow up on the recommendations in
Assembly Resolution 1875 (2012) on good governance and ethics in sport and Resolution 2053 (2015)
on the reform of football governance, and work together to strengthen good governance, democracy and
the respect of human rights in the sports world.