At a Play the Game webinar, the head of the National Olympic Committee in Portugal called for society to make more demands on sports organisations as a way to improve their governance. And a professor at the European University Institute asked for the EU to intervene in the governance of sport: "It is a public obligation to regulate the sports market."

Two new online tools make it possible for anyone to use Play the Game’s Sports Governance Observer Tools to benchmark governance in respectively international sports federation and national sports federations. The tools also make it possible to make comparisons to and between all federations that have already been benchmarked by Play the Game.

A new study of governance in national sports federations across 15 countries on four continents show that the organisations fail on a number of governance criteria particularly those that relate to societal responsibilities towards the environment, social inclusion, sexual harassment and anti-matchfixing.

Little is known about the workings of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. That applies to everything from the number of cases the CAS handles to the awards it makes, potential conflicts of interests between arbitrators and sports organisations, or how exactly panel presidents are appointed to cases. Play the Game unveils some of CAS’ secrets.

Join our webinar on 23 November, as we release governance data from more than 100 federations in 15 countries. Meet the researchers and discuss with international experts like Sarah Lewis and Miguel Maduro whether sports federations are fit for society’s demands.

In 2020, Kim Andersen lost his re-election campaign for a second term as World Sailing President amid three ethical complaints. Now, World Sailing’s Ethics Commission has dismissed two of the complaints and one complaint is withdrawn. Andersen claims the ethical cases were part of a smear campaign against him prior to the election.

New research by Play the Game shows that multi-club ownership (MCO) is growing in football. 156 clubs from around the world are part of 60 MCO groups, and the phenomenon raises new questions of governance for everyone from international football federations to clubs, players, and fans.

China’s human rights violations against one million Uyghurs and other ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang have for years upset human rights defenders, IOC members, and representatives of national governments. But a few months before the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China’s critics are still divided on the question of a boycott of the global sport event.