Football governance: business and values
Recommendation 2221
(2022)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 26 January 2022 (5th sitting) (see Doc. 15430, report of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education
and Media, rapporteur: Lord George Foulkes). Text
adopted by the Assembly on 26 January 2022 (5th sitting).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly, recalling
its
Resolution 2420 (2022) “Football
governance: business and values”, considers that sports in general
and football in particular are powerful tools to uphold human rights
and welcomes the attention paid by the Enlarged Partial Agreement
on Sport (EPAS) and by the Council of Europe intergovernmental bodies
to the human rights dimension of sports governance.
2. Unfortunately, human rights are also threatened within the
sporting world. The Assembly is particularly troubled by the fact
that many high-profile cases have come to light in recent years
of child abuse across sports (including football) and around the
world. Through its intergovernmental networks, the Council of Europe
has made efforts to tackle the problem and the Assembly warmly commends
the “Start to talk” initiative.
3. The ministers responsible for sport, meeting for their 16th
Council of Europe conference, under the Greek presidency, in their
Resolution No. 2 “Human rights in sport”, expressed their concerns
about the human rights violations occurring in the context of sport,
in particular (but not only) against children and women. The ministers
invited EPAS, where appropriate and in co-operation with the sports
movement and with other bodies, to engage with Council of Europe
member States and the sports movement to promote children’s rights and
implement child safeguarding policies; they also invited Council
of Europe member States to integrate the protection of human rights
into the design of sport policies and to use the Council of Europe
standards and tools to enhance the protection of children’s rights
in sport.
4. The Assembly considers that, along the same lines, the Council
of Europe and all its member States should strongly support the
project initiated by FIFA (International Federation of Association
Football) to establish a safe sport entity, namely an independent,
multisport, multi-agency international entity to investigate cases
of abuse in sport, providing trusted and accessible reporting lines
for victims of abuse in sport, and to take prompt action to protect
and care for them.
5. The ministers responsible for sport also acknowledged that
the considerable economic interests tied to professional sport could
prompt different actors, including agents and intermediaries, to
adopt negligent or fraudulent practices leading to human rights
risks and abuses; the ministers also denounced, in this respect, abusive
practices observed in connection with the migration of athletes.
6. Having this in mind, the Assembly considers that it is fundamental
to regulate at global level the football transfer system, including
the adoption of rules seeking to ensure protection of minors, the
transparency of financial flows linked to player transfers and a
sound framework for the access to and exercise of the profession of
agent or intermediary, also with a view to avoiding conflicts of
interest and exorbitant fees. It is the Assembly’s view that FIFA
is entitled to issue such regulations provided that, in implementing
its regulatory powers, it strictly respects the proportionality
principle and does not set constraints or limitations exceeding those
required to protect the legitimate interests the regulations are
designed to safeguard.
7. The Assembly highly praises the co-operation framework that
the Council of Europe has established with FIFA and UEFA (Union
of European Football Associations) by signing memorandums of understanding
with these partners. It believes that it could be useful to set
up similar co-operation frameworks with other sports organisations
that are ready to uphold Council of Europe values and to engage
in collaborative project development with the Council of Europe
bodies.
8. Therefore, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
8.1 arrange for the Council of Europe
intergovernmental sector to assist by providing its expertise in the
establishment and operation of a safe sport entity and urge all
member States to engage with this project and commit to support
the founding and the operation of this entity;
8.2 encourage member States to support FIFA efforts to regulate
at global level the football transfer system, including the adoption
of rules seeking to ensure protection of minors, the transparency
of financial flows linked to player transfers and a sound framework
for the access to and exercise of the profession of agent or intermediary,
provided that the constraints and limitations established by these rules
are reasonable and do not go beyond what is necessary to protect
the legitimate interests at stake;
8.3 seek to further enhance and possibly formalise Council
of Europe co-operation with sports organisations willing to collaborate
to enhance human rights protection and promote the effective implementation
of relevant Council of Europe conventions.
