ENGSO at 5th meeting of European Commission’s Expert Group on sport sector recovery from COVID-19

The meeting was entitled “Strengthening the recovery and the crisis resilience of the sport sector during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic”, and led by Kairis Ulp, Policy Officer at the EU Commission, DG EAC, Sport Unit.

Sport organisations and member states representatives participated in the discussion on sport sector recovery from COVID-19 pandemic (MOTO GP, EU Athletes, TASS, Croatian Gymnastics Federation, Polish Gov representative, Latvia GOV representative, to name a few).

Key takeaways:

• • • • • Discussion about the importance of prioritizing athletes (sport competitions are possible without spectators, not without athletes) and their mental health, ensuring legal protection, and member states support during moments of crisis.
        • EOSE (European Observatories of Sport and Employment) and EOC (European Olympic Committees) representatives mentioned that the consequence of COVID-19 pandemic has also been dwindling numbers of grassroots sport volunteers. EOSE will publish the results of a survey of sport organisations on sport volunteering.
        • The highlight of the meeting were the lessons learnt during the two years of COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen the resiliency of sport sector through economic, social and legal initiatives.
        • Over the past two years, COVID-19 has been the major threat for the sport sector. It is being slowly sidelined to the threat of rising inflation and ongoing war in Ukraine.