9th IPACS Annual General Conference endorses new leadership
Over 100 representatives from sports organisations, governments, intergovernmental organisations and other institutions involved in IPACS gathered together for the Partnership’s flagship event of the year to take stock of progress, hear from expert panels on areas of IPACS expertise, and designate new Steering Committee members and a new IPACS Chair for 2027-2028.
Held one year on from the 5th International Forum for Sports Integrity and the previous IPACS Annual General Conference, the conference was jointly hosted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Federal Office of Sport of Switzerland (FOSPO) at Olympic House on 2 October 2026. As highlighted in the IPACS Partner Report 2026, the Partnership has grown in terms of reach, numbers and representation since the last Annual General Conference. Eighty-nine organisations and governments are now represented in the Partnership, a 22 per cent increase since October 2025.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry opened the conference with welcome remarks. She underlined the importance of integrity and good governance within the new strategic direction that the IOC’s Fit for the Future process is setting, and that athletes and society at large need to have trust in how sport is governed. She also stressed that partnerships are key to building this trust.
FOSPO Director Sandra Felix similarly emphasised that partnerships, including the partnership between Switzerland and the IOC, as well as the broader partnership of IPACS, are key to tackling corruption. Lauding the progress of the Partnership, including the publication and dissemination of the IPACS Sport Governance Benchmark & Guidelines Handbook, she underscored that good governance must be implemented all the way down to the grassroots level. “Together, we can ensure that principles are translated into tangible changes – within organisations, federations and, ultimately, in everyday sport.” With Switzerland’s term as IPACS Chair for 2025-2026 coming to an end, Mrs Felix thanked the partners for their trust. “It has been a pleasure and an honour,” she concluded.
Renewing the Partnership
The Annual General Conference served as the occasion to formally designate new governments, sports organisations and an athletes’ representative for the 2027-2028 Steering Committee. With the exception of the five founding partners and Switzerland, which has served only one two-year term, the entire membership of the IPACS Steering Committee will be replaced in 2027.
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Upon their confirmation, many of the new Steering Committee members took the floor to express their gratitude to the Partners for their trust and to underline their commitment to the fight against corruption in sport. Heike Groesswang, President of the IBSF, affirmed: “I am honoured to contribute my experience to our shared objective: protecting sport, strengthening its integrity and ensuring that future generations can continue to believe in fair, transparent and well-governed sport.”
The conference also elected a new IPACS Chair, with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by UK Sport, taking over from Switzerland. The UK’s significant expertise and wealth of experience within IPACS will be invaluable assets as it takes up this essential role.
Practical case studies in focus
The conference was primarily centred around three panels of speakers, each dedicated to one of the main areas of IPACS expertise. These included good governance, cross-sector cooperation and the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and corruption in sport.
The session on good governance, “Crisis or Opportunity?”, was moderated by Snežana Samardžić-Marković, Chair of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Governance Task Force, who opened the session with insights from the latest ASOIF governance review. Andres Constantin from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), Julia Cook of the Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU), and IOC member and Panama Olympic Committee President Damaris Young each shared their experiences with good governance journeys in their organisations, including challenges, lessons learned and the importance of IPACS tools. For her part, Hanne Juncher, Director of Security, Integrity and Rule of Law at the Council of Europe, provided her perspective on the role of public authorities in working with sports organisations on good governance.
The second session, “Joining Forces”, focused on how sports organisations and governments can work together on anti-corruption. Moderated by Ronan O’Laoire from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the session focused on practical examples of cooperation as experienced by Justin Lessard of the Aquatics Integrity Unit, Yann Philippe of the French Anti-Corruption Agency and Mauro Tosto of the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026. The speakers emphasised the importance of building trust between sports organisations and public authorities as a precondition for effective cooperation.
The third session, “AI for Anti-Corruption in Sport: From Ideas to Implementation”, focused on the recently published IPACS Fact Sheet on AI and Corruption in Sport and explored case studies of AI’s use for sports integrity. András Hlács of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Breno Pontes from the IOC and Holly Shick of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) each contributed their thoughts on this rapidly developing area of IPACS work. The speakers agreed that while there are challenges associated with the adoption of AI in the area of sports integrity, these challenges can be addressed by proper governance.