The European Leagues welcomes the joint Declaration by European Sports Ministers for a sporting model based on solidarity, sporting merit and the impact of sport in our society. Several European ministers are calling on sports leaders and the European Commission to strengthen the values of solidarity in sport.
Through the years, the European Leagues and its members have been firmly calling football and sports bodies as well as public authorities for the need to protect and strengthen the so-called European pyramidal sporting model that has in the domestic dimension its core base and foundation.
It is therefore important that together sports bodies could always protect the principle of sporting merit supported by this Declaration which has its essence in the annual based qualification from domestic competitions to international competitions.
The leagues reinforce their belief in an European sporting model based on solidarity between professional levels and grassroots which allow the whole society to enjoy and practice sport while safeguarding those dreams that only sport has the power to bring to each local community across Europe.
Declaration by European Sports Ministers on the European Sport Model – Link
We recall the importance of protecting and strengthening a solidarity and values-based sport in line with the Council Resolution on the key features of a European Sport Model adopted unanimously by EU sports ministers on 30 November 2021.
In that vein, we:
- Promote values in sport and sport organisations, governed in compliance with the principles of democracy, transparency, integrity, solidarity, gender equality, openness, accountability, accessibility, social responsibility and respect for fundamental and human rights.
- Support the key features of a European Sport Model, including the pyramidal structure, the open system of promotion and relegation, the grassroots approach and solidarity, the sport’s role in national identity, community building and structures based on voluntary activity as well as its social, educational, cultural and health functions;
- Call on the sport governing bodies to preserve such key features and values and in this regard secure the balance between the economic dimension of sport and its educational and social functions, as well as the relationship and solidarity between grassroots and professional levels;
- Invite sport governing bodies to organise sporting competitions in compliance with the principles of openness, equal opportunities, sporting merit, link between annual performance in domestic competitions and all European competitions, financial solidarity, integrity and equity to promote the social function of sport and access to it for all;
- Ask the sport governing bodies to adhere to the highest standards of good governance, safety and integrity, counteracting all forms of discrimination as well as promoting and disseminating the culture of respect, in their respective sports while acknowledging their fundamental role in safeguarding the organisation of their sport;
- Call to further strengthen the key features of a European Sport Model as the EU’s vision and framework for the long-term future of European sport;
- Invite the Commission to reflect on appropriate ways to pursue the 2021 Council Resolution regarding the safeguarding of the openness of competitions, sporting merit, integrity, solidarity and values in sport.