The SOPROS Project Consortium is pleased to announce the publication of its Evaluation Report, marking a major milestone in the Erasmus+ project SOPROS – Social Protection in Olympic Sports. The comprehensive report assesses the current state of social protection for elite athletes across Europe and provides concrete recommendations for improving fairness, transparency and long-term welfare in Olympic sport.
Led by the German Sport University Cologne and supported by a multidisciplinary consortium of academic and sport governance experts, the SOPROS project brings together insights from five European countries – Croatia, Germany, Poland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom – complemented by data from athletes and institutional stakeholders.
The final evaluation report is now available for download:
- Download full report: SOPROS Evaluation Report (PDF)
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.25847/sopros.01.2025
The findings offer a solid evidence base for future dialogue and policy development, aligned with European values of solidarity and athletes’ rights. Key challenges such as legal fragmentation, lack of status recognition, and missing social dialogue mechanisms are addressed through comparative analysis and practical country examples.
The publication of the evaluation report is not the final step, but a strong foundation for what is to follow. In the coming months, the SOPROS team will focus on translating these findings into a practice-oriented Implementation Manual, designed to support policymakers and sport organisations in improving athlete welfare. The project will conclude with a final conference in December 2025, where results and practical pathways forward will be discussed and disseminated.
About the project
SOPROS (Social Protection in Olympic Sports) is a multi-stakeholder Erasmus+ project coordinated by the German Sport University Cologne. It aims to assess, evaluate, and improve social protection for elite athletes in Olympic sports. Although athletes are entitled to state protection like any other citizen, their unique employment status often leads to unclear regulations affecting critical areas such as minimum income, retirement pensions, and maternity protection. Together with its partners – including the EOA – the project is working toward a future where every athlete can rely on fair and comprehensive protection before, during, and after their sporting career.
The SOPROS consortium includes the German Sport University Cologne, the University of Rijeka, the Sport Evolution Alliance, Edge Hill University, the Institute for Sport Governance, the European Athletes and Player Association (EU Athletes), the European Olympic Academies (EOA), the European Association of Sport Employers (EASE), and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
More information: www.dshs-koeln.de/iesf/sopros
