Governance in sport is making its way onto the political agenda in Europe. At the end of September politicians from Europe and the Russian State Duma will meet with a wide range of sports actors to discuss the future of sport in Europe at a conference called “Play Fair With Sport.”

Last year, the government in New Zealand refused entry visas to a cricket team from Zimbabwe in protest against human rights abuses by Zimbabwe’s government. Now the New Zealand government has agreed to pay New Zealand Cricket compensation to cover losses from the cancelled tour.

Greek Deputy Sports Minister George Orfanos felt the heat this summer when FIFA excluded Greek football teams from international competitions. FIFA was unhappy with proposals for a new law which would open the Hellenic Football Federation to public scrutiny. In the end, football was exempted from the law leaving Orfanos to ask whether FIFA is above national lawmakers.

Sport will be high on the agenda of the European Commission for the next year. EU Commissioner Jan Figel has decided to produce a ”White Paper on the Role of Sport in Europe” in 2007 and a lengthy consultation process with sports actors in Europe began at a conference in Bruxelles last week.

This month the Independent Review of European Football will open with public hearings. A key issue will be who should own clubs: fans or business men.

Knowledge bank: Does a top athlete's body belong to him- or herself? Or does it belong to the whole nation?

Knowledge bank: Huge sporting events are a break from every day life.
But they are expensive. Event organisers understimate the costs and exaggerate the revenues for the event and for the host country, says Harry Arne Solberg of the Trondheim School of Business.

Sport has been "used and abused" by politicians everywhere and down the ages with personal and political agendas according to Terry Monnington, director of Warwick University’s Department of Physical Education and Sport.