Sports

National team competition is vital for preserving European sports model

At the latest Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council meeting, a number of European sports ministers expressed concern over the impact of commercial trends in elite sports on the integrity of the European sports model, based on solidarity. Kamil Novak explains what role the EU should play

Tackling corruption in football is actually a fight for democracy

Football can be a force for good and democratisation but it can also shelter some of the worst aspects of society, like corruption and money laundering to mask illegal activities, warns MEP Stelios Kouloglou.

Weighing the tradeoffs of joy versus long term health

Consumers make hundreds of choices every day, some of  which imply weighing the tradeoffs of joy versus long term health. These are highly subjective decisions, and in a free society adult consumers should have the right to make these choices and not have them dictated to them by public health tsars, writes Fred Roeder.

Paris 2024 is a bet on Europe

On Tuesday 6 June, a delegation for the Paris bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be received by the European Parliament in its assembly. It is a big opportunity for Paris, and also for the European Union, writes Julian Jappert.

A healthy environment means healthy citizens and a more vibrant EU

Europeans have some of the highest rates of anxiety, depression and other non-infectious diseases in the world. Today, on World Health Day, nature is an overlooked remedy, argues Magda Stoczkiewicz.

Nationalism, technology, and the Olympics

The Olympic Games have turned into a competition between nations, rather than individuals, writes George Friedman.

How to fix FIFA

Anne Brasseur spells out exactly what Sepp Blatter or his successor must do to “lance the boil” and clean up football’s world governing body.

Tourist boom in Georgia and Azerbaijan helps mitigate low oil prices

Georgia and Azerbaijan, two South Caucasus countries that offer breath-taking natural beauty, architectural treasures and rich histories, are going all-out to develop their tourism industries, writes Giorgi Meladze.

The other side of Bansko, Bulgaria

Open letter from young Bulgarian skiers to the participants in the Ladies Ski World Cup held in Bansko, Bulgaria 2015.

Engage sports federations in politics

Engaging sports movement in politics would be a chance for Europe. In 2010 only 1% of French people were members of a political party - one of the lowest rates among EU member states - while 24% signed up to belong to a sports federation, writes Nadège Chambon.

The fight against corruption in sport is a major European issue

Without a stricter Europe-wide approach to combat corruption in sport, one of humanity's oldest pastimes risks losing its value, concludes a recent EU-commissioned study by KEA, a Brussels-based consultancy. The think-tank Sport and Citizenship says illegal betting and the recent examples of match-fixing pose among the biggest threats. In the opinion of Philippe Kern, Europe needs stricter laws with new and better methods for prevention, detection and punishment to combat the problem.

EU at the Olympics: An invisible powerhouse

The London Games should confirm the EU’s position as a major soft power (at least in its sportive dimension), despite the global financial turmoil and economic crisis on the Old Continent, writes Piotr Maciej Kaczy?ski.

Russia’s Winter Olympic Games: Stepping up to the sustainability challenge

Global sports events like the Winter Olympics can and must contribute to mitigating environmental damage, writes Dmitry Chernyshenko, president and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee, pointing to vast differences in environmental consciousness in the EU and Russia which the organisers hope Sochi will help change. 

Sport as development tool promotes solidarity and social inclusion

Sport, as a tool for education, development and peace, can promote cooperation, solidarity, tolerance, understanding, social inclusion and health at the local, national and international levels, according to leading European sports think-tank Sport and Citizenship.

Only a truly licensed and regulated gambling market can prevent corruption and match fixing

With the European Commission readying its Green Paper on online gambling, the recent cricket betting saga highlighted the need for European regulation that will allow bookmakers to continue to innovate and maintain their integrity, writes Khalid Ali, secretary-general of the European Sports Security Association (ESSA), in an opinion piece sent exclusively to EURACTIV.

Why the World Cup will not be won by an African team

Declan Hill, an investigative journalist passionate about football, paints an uncompromising portrait of the massively popular sport.

The 2010 Football World Cup: its duty to lead by example

The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa will be a catalyst for progress for Africa if the impact of the event becomes part of a long-term perspective and leaves a lasting and measurable legacy, writes Joël Bouzou, president and founder of Peace and Sport.

Soccer? Football? However you say it, the Yanks are coming

"The 2010 World Cup, which kicks off today (11 June) in Johannesburg, will present a number of intriguing match-ups that will play out on green grass, not on international waters, in conference rooms, or through diplomatic backchannels," writes William P. Bohlen, director of communications at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

The impact of sport regulations on European identity

"There is a factual antagonism between sports regulation and the notion of European identity," writes Muriel Féraud-Courtin, a lawyer at French law firm TAJ.

Sports, a promising tool in reinforcing European identity

The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty turns a new page in institutional reform and starts a fresh chapter in European integration, write Nadège Chambon, a researcher at French think-tank Notre Europe, and Thibaut Kerhervé, president of Triathlon Versailles, in an April paper.

Sport: Reconciling prosperity with political and financial independence

The main challenge for sports authorities is to reconcile prosperity with political and financial independence, writes Vincent Chaudel, director of sport at Ineum Consulting and vice-president of French think-tank Sport et Citoyenneté, in a December paper.