ENGSO expands its membership to five new countries at the 32nd General Assembly held in Vienna, Austria
The 32nd ENGSO General Assembly, hosted by ENGSO member Sport Austria, took place on 14-16 June 2024 in Vienna, Austria. On the same occasion, ENGSO Youth Assembly, EU seminar and ENGSO seminar on Equality and Sport were held.
Key highlights:
- ENGSO welcomed five new member organisations, increasing its membership to 38 National Sport Federations, National Olympic Committees and European Sport Organisations.
- New members joining are: Sports Committee of Ukraine, Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee, Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegrin Olympic Committee and the Olympic Committee of North Macedonia.
- The General Assembly also approved updates to the ENGSO statues, making ENGSO more inclusive and open to new memberships and opportunities.
- Stefan Bergh, ENGSO President, and Gerd Bischofter, Sport Austria Managing Director, opened the assembly while Omar Al-Rawi, City Council of Vienna and Michael Eschlböck, Sport Austria Vice president, greeted the participants during the evening programme in Vienna City Hall.
- Before the assembly, ENGSO Executive Committee, EWS Committee and EU Advisory Committee held a meeting to discuss key activities for the second half of 2024.
Full recap: 32nd ENGSO General Assembly
“Sport is the glue that keeps people, communities and society together. And together with you, ENGSO member organisations, we are here to represent, develop and advocate for grassroots sport in Europe.” Stefan Bergh, ENGSO President, officially opened the 32nd ENGSO General Assembly and ENGSO seminars, on 14 June 2024.
ENGSO members were also welcomed by Gerd Bischofter, Sport Austria Managing Director, who highlighted the fruitful partnerships and longtime ENGSO membership of Sport Austria: “We are proud to be a part of ENGSO for many years. To learn from each other, exchange ideas and work on issues together.”
From European funding opportunities and research-based advocacy to youth participation and artificial intelligence: EU and ENGSO members seminar on Equality and Sport
On the same occasion as the General Assembly, the EU Seminar and ENGSO Members seminars were organised. Gaële Broze, Head of Sport Sector EACEA, European Commission, joined us online on day one, 14 June 2024, to present the funding opportunities for grassroots sport and sport clubs, and explain the latest developments and priorities within the EU Sport Policy and Erasmus+ programme.
After the EU seminar, the programme continued with the session revolving around sport integrity. Since 2022, IRIS (Institutions for Respect and Integrity in Sport) is home of three expert institutions which promote safe and clean sport by fostering prevention in terms of anti-doping, violence prevention, enhanced gender equality and the prevention of betting manipulation. Michael Cepic, Managing Director, NADA Austria, Claudia Koller, Managing Director, 100% SPORT and Marc Orlainsky, Play Fair Code presented their groundbreaking work and led the participants through a seminar on sport integrity, anti-doping and safeguarding in sport.
Day one of assembly concluded with Lisa Wainwright, CEO, Sport and Recreation Alliance, UK, and Ricky Boardman, Head of Research, Sport and Recreation Alliance, facilitating a workshop which explored the UK’s experience of building an advocacy coalition across the sport, recreation and physical activity sector and examined how international comparative evidence can be used to make the case for the economic, health and wellbeing benefits of being active.
After the seminars, ENGSO members had the opportunity to join the tour of the Vienna City Hall where they were welcomed by Omar Al-Rawi, City Council of Vienna and Michael Eschlböck, Sport Austria Vice president
During the first session entitled “Sport in the trending world – are we able to keep youth voices involved?”, ENGSO Youth’s Policy Manager Tiago Guilherme challenged the participants with an important question: “are we managing to reach the ones in need and assure that youth voices are diversified from various groups, especially from more vulnerable backgrounds?”. ENGSO Youth explained why building mechanisms for youth participation in sport organisations is important and how sport organisations can improve and increase the inclusion of youth in the decision making process.
How is AI utilised in sports? Mounir Zok, CEO, N3XT Sports joined us for the second session of the day to explain how artificial intelligence revolutionises various aspects of the sport industry, from athletic performance, training, to fan engagement. The participants dove into how AI-driven analytics optimise player performance by analysing vast datasets to uncover insights, enhance strategic decision-making, and prevent injuries. He also covered the role of AI and how it can be utilised to improve fan experiences through personalised content delivery, virtual reality, and interactive applications.
ENGSO General Assembly confirms 5 new members to ENGSO, increases its membership to 38 members
On Saturday, 15 June 2024, after the seminars, Stefan Bergh, ENGSO President, welcomed the representatives of the ENGSO member organisations (National Sport Federations and National Olympic Committees), ENGSO associated members and partners to the 2024 General Assembly, and declared the General Assembly (meeting) open.
We were honoured to be joined by Alvise Angelini, Senior Policy Officer & Sport Secretary, The European Lotteries, to the 32nd ENGSO General Assembly, who welcomed the participants and highlighted the longtime and successful partnership with ENGSO. This was an opportunity to thank The European Lotteries (EL) for their continuous support and contribution to strengthening grassroots sport in Europe and for a fruitful collaboration and joint work in the field of sport integrity, values in sport and grassroots sport for stronger communities
During the General Assembly, the ENGSO report and achievements, finances, Committees (ENGSO Youth, Equality Within Sport – EWS, and EU Advisory Committee), projects and updates on statues were presented by the members of the Executive Committee. The General Assembly also approved updates to the ENGSO statues, making ENGSO more inclusive and open to new memberships and opportunities.
The highlight of the 32nd ENGSO General Assembly was ENGSO welcoming five new member organisations, increasing their membership to 38 National Sport Federations, National Olympic Committees and European Sport Organisations. New members joining are:
- Sports Committee of Ukraine,
- Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee,
- Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Montenegrin Olympic Committee and
- the Olympic Committee of North Macedonia.
Following the confirmation of new members, Rejhan Halili from National Olympic Committee of Kosovo invited the participants to the next ENGSO’s event – The European Sport Platform which will be held in Pristina, Kosovo, on 21-23 November 2024, under the theme of “Values in sport: building bridges in a united Europe”.
The 2024 edition of the ENGSO General Assembly concluded with ENGSO Youth taking the stage, presenting the main achievements form 2023 and the work of each working group by highlighting key objectives of the future.
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Sport Austria for a warm welcome in Vienna, Austria, and a wonderful event that united sport organisations from all over Europe under a common message of “sport for stronger communities”.
We are also grateful to all members, partners, guests, speakers and participants for joining ENGSO at the 32nd ENGSO General Assembly and supporting us in shaping the European grassroots movement.
We look forward to welcoming you at the 7th edition of the European Sport Platform 2024 which will be held in Pristina, Kosovo, on 21-23 November 2024, hosted by Olympic Committee of Kosovo.
Photos: © Sport Austria/Florian Rogner