SOPROS EU-Level Multi-Stakeholder Workshop in Brussels
On June 26, 2025, the SOPROS project brought together over 20 high-level stakeholders from European institutions, national governments, sport organisations and athlete associations for its EU-Level Multi-Stakeholder Workshop in Brussels. One remark from the discussions captured the atmosphere of broad consensus: “I learnt that you can’t be against the social protection of athletes.” Yet, as the workshop also made clear, turning this shared conviction into concrete, coordinated action across national borders remains a significant challenge. Hosted at UNI Europa in the heart of Brussels, the event provided a unique platform for open dialogue and co-creation on one of the most pressing topics in European sport governance: strengthening the social protection of elite athletes. The workshop marked an important step towards developing practical, cross-border solutions to safeguard athletes’ rights and well-being across Europe.
The SOPROS Project: Approach and Evaluation Results
The workshop began with an introduction to the SOPROS project’s core objectives and research findings. Professor Juergen Mittag from the German Sport University Cologne and the project team, Maximilian Seltmann and Lorenz Fiege, presented a comprehensive overview of the current state of social protection for elite athletes in Europe. The focus of the Erasmus+ Project lies particularly on those competing in Olympic sports outside the major professional leagues, whose athletic careers often constitute full-time commitments but are not accompanied by formal employment status or adequate legal safeguards.
The research highlights the fragmented and inconsistent landscape of athlete social protection across Europe. National approaches vary considerably, from public employment schemes within military or police forces to elite athlete status legislation and isolated, athlete-specific measures. Despite their crucial role in the European sport system, many athletes face legal uncertainty and significant gaps in access to essential social protection, such as health insurance, injury protection, unemployment or maternity support, and pension schemes. Moreover, the research findings underscore a worrying lack of awareness among athletes regarding their rights and available protections. Survey data revealed that the vast majority of athletes feel poorly informed about social protection provisions.
At the same time, the project emphasises the strong interdependence between sport governance, labour rights, and social protection. It calls for recognising elite athletes, especially those outside commercialised professional sport, as workers entitled to basic social protections under national and European legal frameworks.
For those interested, the presentation delivered by the project team at the beginning of the Round Table — providing further details on the research background, key findings and conceptual approach — is available for download under the following link: >> LINK <<
Round Table: Athletes’ Social Protection – A Key Value Underpinning the European Sport Model?
The subsequent roundtable brought together policymakers, athlete representatives, and experts to explore the role of social protection within the European sport model. A key message emerged early on: while social protection is increasingly recognised in political discourse, it is not yet firmly established as a core value of sport governance in Europe.
Representatives from the European Parliament, including Pandora Dimanopoulou (assistant to MEP Nikos Pappas) and Katarzyna Biniaszczyk (assistant to MEP Bogdan Zdrojewski), outlined how athlete rights — including social protection, occupational health, and dual career support — have been given prominent attention in the forthcoming European Parliament report on the European Sports Model. This was seen as a positive signal that the political momentum for change is growing, even if the report also revealed institutional complexities, such as overlapping responsibilities between different EU institutions.
Ziya Tanyar, representing the Council of Europe, provided insights into how existing legal instruments, such as the European Social Charter, could be leveraged to advance athlete protection. Although these tools have been underutilised in the sports context so far, they offer tangible avenues for governments and stakeholders to improve working conditions, health and safety standards, and social rights for athletes.
Representatives of the current and upcoming EU Council Presidencies highlighted growing political attention to athlete protection. Piotr Markowicz and Ewa Markowicz (Polish Council Presidency) underlined that safeguarding athletes’ well-being and social rights must be a core element of the European sport model. Anders Stein Knudsen (Danish Presidency) confirmed that the issue could feature on the agenda of forthcoming Council meetings, though national discussions in Denmark remain decentralised. Vassos Koutsioundas (Cyprus Sport Organisation) shared a practical example of a national pilot scheme that provides jobs in sport federations to top athletes, supporting their social security and career transition.
With Paulina Tomczyk and Natalia Orive from EU Athletes as well as Walter Palmer from the World Players Association, athletes’ associations contributed critical perspectives, calling for stronger, independent athlete representation in governance processes. They emphasised that internal athlete commissions, while valuable, cannot replace the role of independent unions when it comes to negotiating binding improvements to social protection. The roundtable discussion made it clear that to truly embed social protection as a key value within the European sports model, more explicit legal definitions, stronger institutional cooperation, and effective mechanisms for athlete voice and representation are essential.
Interactive Session: Tools and Instruments for the Transnational Coordination of Athletes’ Social Protection – Reflections on Concrete Measures
In the second half of the workshop, participants focused on practical tools and instruments that could enhance the transnational coordination of athlete social protection across Europe. A central theme was the gap between progressive political declarations and concrete, enforceable measures that tangibly improve athletes’ lives.
Representatives from European sport federations such as Jaejung Jung from the European Volleyball Federation (CEV) and GinoSchilders from Euro Hockey shared examples of existing initiatives, including best practice exchanges, dual career programmes, and the development of common standards for athlete protection. However, both organisations pointed out that their ability to enforce binding rules on national members remains limited.
The discussion also explored broader European instruments. The potential for establishing new sectoral social dialogue committees for professional sports, beyond football, was widely acknowledged. The football sector’s successful example of structured social dialogue was seen as a blueprint for creating similar mechanisms in other sports, provided sufficient political will and stakeholder collaboration can be mobilised.
Further, the European Social Charter’s collective complaint procedure was presented as an underutilised but promising legal avenue for advancing athlete protection, with NGO and trade union involvement offering athletes formal channels to assert their rights at the European level.
Finally, participants agreed that the current political momentum, reflected in policy developments such as the European Parliament report and the growing visibility of athlete rights, presents a rare window of opportunity to advance the topic. However, to translate this momentum into meaningful change, a coordinated, multi-stakeholder approach is essential. Governments, sports bodies, athlete representatives, and EU institutions must collaborate to ensure that social protection becomes a tangible reality for athletes, rather than an abstract political aspiration.
The SOPROS project will continue to build on these discussions and work precisely at this intersection — bringing together key stakeholders, fostering dialogue, and developing practical policy solutions. The Brussels workshop marked a crucial step in this process, and all those interested can look forward to further project events as well as concrete outputs in the coming months.
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
Make your voice count – Athlete & Stakeholder Surveys still open!
To ensure the SOPROS project can deliver meaningful recommendations based on real-world needs, all athletes and relevant organisations are urged to complete the ongoing surveys:
Your responses will directly inform the development of practical policy guidance and support systems for athletes across Europe.
