Jan Zglinski

Korrupte Verbände: Warum wir ein europäisches Sportgesetz brauchen Sportverbände haben das Autonomieprinzip zu oft als Deckmantel für schlechte Verbandsführung missbraucht. Die Europäische Union muss dem Profisport einen rechtlichen Rahmen setzen.

Auch aus der Sicht sehr lesenswert: die Forderung nach einem europaweiten Eingreifen durch einen European Sports Act, den @janzglinski.bsky.social, @janexner.bsky.social und Stephen Weatherill hier formuliert haben.

www.faz.net/aktuell/spor...

"Too often have federations abused the principle of autonomy as a cover for poor governance. The European Union must establish a regulatory framework for professional sports."

We need a European Sports Act.

How to fix football / FIFA?

"...the most promising avenue is EU legislation which sets out minimum governance standards as well as substantive requirements, including on human rights, gender equality, and athlete welfare." - @janzglinski.bsky.social

Great thread by @ncgeehan.bsky.social⤵️

For the good of the game: fixing football through improved regulation Jan Zglinski argues that introducing new football laws can help to address the deep-rooted problems affecting the beautiful game.

5/ Dr Jan Zglinski, @janzglinski.bsky.social Associate Professor at LSE Law School. Author of, among other things, 'For the good of the game: fixing football through improved regulation'. www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/society/fixing-football-through-improved-regulation

Fans of Bayern Munich reference our @fairsq.bsky.social statement on the misgovernance of football at the FIFA Club World Cup:

"10 Years Baur au Lac - World Football is More Poorly Governed than Before"

Time for change.

Copa 71 | LSE Festival film screening 6pm Fri 20 Jun | Film screening and Q&A with Rachel Ramsay | Free event at the LSE Festival: Visions for the Future | Ticket required

Today's LSE Festival highlight:
Know the story of 1971 Women's World Cup in Mexico? Women's football, watched by record crowds, but written out of history because it was "not commercially viable"
What's the future for women in sport?
FREE film screening +Q&A with director+ @janzglinski.bsky.social

Fifa ‘more poorly governed today than 10 years ago’, open letter to organisation claims Fifa is “arguably more poorly governed today than it was 10 years ago”, figures from across the world of football have argued in an open letter

Great to see @theguardian.com covering our open letter in which we call for a reform of football governance.

It has been 10 years since we were promised a fundamental overhaul of how the game is run. Too little has changed - and not much for the better.

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

📢 New Article

Reforming Football: What the EU Can Do

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

#ECJ #AG Emiliou: #Sports governing bodies cannot freely self-regulate when their rules have a significant impact on areas covered by #EUlaw #football 👉 curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo...

When near Naples...

"Served by Maradona"

Yes, indeed, I will - much looking forward!

A new proposal for a European Sports Act, by @janzglinski.bsky.social and others, deserves strong support. The evidence in favour of imposing regulation on dysfunctional sport bodies like FIFA is overwhelming. This is what that could look like in practice. fairsq.org/new-proposal...

While the US already has the Ted Stevens Act and the SafeSport Act and might take up something on college sports, a broadbased approach to sports governance like this could be useful too. The challenge is that so much of US pro sports is governed by collective bargaining

The full text can be found here:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Special thanks to our friends @fairsq.bsky.social who have kindly helped disseminate the proposal:

fairsq.org/new-proposal...

Enforcement will follow a dual structure: new EU Sports Agency + national sports authorities. Violations will trigger fines and penalty payments. For systematic violations of good governance or human rights rules, a ban on organising or participating in sporting competitions can be imposed.

Sports organisations must do more to promote gender equality:

‒ increase participation of + build infrastructure for female athletes
‒ create pathway to equal pay
‒ adopt maternity policy with min. 14 weeks paid leave
‒ contribute to closing the gender gap in health research.

Protecting and nurturing athletes should be a priority in sports – but is often not. We propose that sports organisations have a legal obligation to adopt a safeguarding policy, establish or recognise a body monitoring compliance with it, and give athletes adequate health and mental health support.

Federations can subject new competitions to prior authorisation and protect sporting merit and openness. But the criteria must be clear, transparent and non-discriminatory. We follow the Superleague case law, but require that key stakeholders – clubs, fans, athletes – be consulted before deciding.

Sport plays an important social role – but with power comes responsibility. We propose human rights and environmental due diligence requirements similar to those in the CSDD Directive. In addition, sports organisations must make human rights a substantial factor when evaluating bids to host events.

This includes term limits for board members and executive directors, transparency duties for important financial information, and representation requirements:

‒ 40% of board positions held by women
‒ Athletes have min. 1 rep with voting rights
‒ Fans have min. 1 rep with voting rights.

What do we suggest? Minimum regulatory standards for sports governing bodies and competition organisers. Good governance is at the heart our proposal. None of the problems in sport will be solved without it. We propose four principles: democracy, representation, transparency and accountability.

Why do we need an EU Sports Act? Many sports organisations are poorly run. States struggle with regulating federations for fear of reprisals. International rules are difficult to agree on. The EU offers something unique: the possibility of transnational regulation and effective enforcement.

Our proposal for a European Sports Act!

Sport needs reforming and the EU, so we believe, can effect positive change. We propose EU rules on good governance, social responsibility, human rights, plus better safeguards for athletes and fans.

A short thread breaking down the key elements.

Sport plays an important social role – but with power comes responsibility. We propose human rights and environmental due diligence requirements similar to those in the CSDD Directive. In addition, sports organisations must make human rights a substantial factor when evaluating bids to host events.

This includes term limits for board members and executive directors, transparency duties for important financial information, and representation requirements:

‒ 40% of board positions held by women
‒ Athletes have min. 1 rep with voting rights
‒ Fans have min. 1 rep with voting rights.

What do we suggest? Minimum regulatory standards for sports governing bodies and competition organisers. Good governance is at the heart our proposal. None of the problems in sport will be solved without it. We propose four principles: democracy, representation, transparency and accountability.

Why do we need an EU Sports Act? Many sports organisations are poorly run. States struggle with regulating federations for fear of reprisals. International rules are difficult to agree on. The EU offers something unique: the possibility of transnational regulation and effective enforcement.

we wrote this with doctoral students in law in Europe in mind. My impression is many of them are methodologically lost. We hope that the expert coding lens and framework can help at least some of them out

Are we all coders now? @movadek.bsky.social, Phillip Schroeder and @janzglinski.bsky.social on a way out of expertise anxiety induced by the rise of empirical legal studies.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...