AGGIS: Existing governance principles in sport: a review of published litterature

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the “good” governance theme has become a must when sports organisations are facing cases of corruption, doping, match fixing and mismanagement. Due to the philosophical debate about what is considered as an appropriate (“good”) behavior in a given society and the theoretical debate on the concept of governance, “good” governance acquired the quality of being highly extensible and flexible. Therefore, it can encompass a large scope of situations.

If we consider that the International Olympic Committee created such a narrative through the Basic universal principles of good governance of the Olympic and sports movement and their formal incorporation in the IOC Code of Ethics and the Olympic Charter, the “good governance” theme acquired the power to cover a wide range of sports actors all around the world. Indeed, according to the fundamental principles of the Olympism, sports organisations within the Olympic movement ‐ the IOC, IFs, NOCs, OCOGs, NAs, clubs, athletes, judges, referees, coaches, technicians and other organisations recognized by the IOC ‐ shall have the responsibility for ensuring that principles of good governance are applied. And this observation applies also to supranational institutions. When the Council of Europe publishes the Recommendation Rec (2005)8 on the principles of good governance in sport, 47 countries – including their national sports organisations ‐ are affected by such an institutional tool.

However, the “good” governance theme emerged in other parts of the world, under different cultures, under different theoretical influences (corporate governance or democratic governance), sometimes under different wordings such as “good practices”, “principles of conduct” or simply governance. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present an overview of existing and published governance principles in sport. It puts the emphasis on international governmental organisations, such as the Council of Europe and the European Union; international non governmental organisations, such as Transparency International and Play The Game; the work of scholars such as Henry & Lee (2004) and Chappelet & Kübler‐Mabott (2008); sports organisations, such as the International Olympic Committee and the Union Cycliste Internationale; quasi governmental sports organisations, such as UK Sport and the Australian Sports Commission.

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