Quick introduction
The National Sports Governance Observer (NSGO) project is creating a robust framework for improving governance in national sports organisations by establishing and nurturing domestic networks of public authorities and sport stakeholders; exchanging and disseminating good practices; monitoring the implementation of good governance standards
A key component of the NSGO project is the National Sports Governance Observer tool that scores the performance of individual sports organisations on 274 indicators of good governance in four different dimensions:
- Transparency
- Democracy
- Internal accountability and control
- Societal responsibility
The NSGO tool is continuously applied to new countries.
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Get involved and use our tools
Become an NSGO partner
You can apply to become a partner of the NSGO project and carry out official benchmarking of governance in sports organisations in your own or another country.
Learn more and apply here
Do your own benchmarking
Play the Game has launched an online tool that allows anyone to benchmark a national sports federation following the principles of the National Sports Governance Observer and compare to previous benchmarking results.
Learn more about the NSGO tool
Go directly to the NSGO tool
From SGO to NSGO
The National Sports Governance Observer (NSGO) project is based on two previous projects in the field of benchmarking sports governance: 'Action for Good Governance in International Sports Organisations’ (AGGIS) and 'The Sports Governance Observer'(SGO).
In 2017, Play the Game/Danish Institute for Sports Studies received funding from the Danish Parliament as well as a grant worth 383,000 euros from the EU’s Erasmus+ programme to develop and apply the benchmarking tool at the level of national sports organisations.
The NSGO tool was developed to produce a picture of 46 good governance principles through 274 yes and no questions, and in 2018 the findings from that project was published in the report “National Sports Governance Observer” authored by Arnout Geeraert.
After the conclusion of the EU-funded project, Play the Game/Danish Institute for Sports Studies continues the project supported by a special governance grant from the Danish government.
Free webinar: Are sports federations fit for society’s demands?
Watch the webinar where Play the Game released governance data from more than 100 federations in 15 countries as part of the second round of the National Sports Governance Observer project.