A packed summer season for IPACS

Engaging with stakeholders in Greece

In late June, a half-day workshop brought together more than 40 representatives from the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) and Greek sports federations to make them familiar with IPACS, its mission and the IPACS Sport Governance Benchmark. The participants were welcomed by HOC Secretary General and Olympian Stefanos Chandakas, and the Secretary General of Sport of the Hellenic Republic, George Mavrotas, before learning about the Benchmark’s five dimensions of transparency, integrity, democracy, development and solidarity, and checks and balances/control mechanisms, with special focus on the last of these. During interactive sessions, participants also exchanged experiences about good governance measures already implemented within their own organisations, lessons learnt and best practices. Held in the HOC headquarters, the highly successful meeting was co-organised by the IOC and the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) of the Council of Europe, with the support of the Greek Sports Ministry.

Facilitating good governance

The IPACS Task Force on Good Governance met at the end of June to review the second draft of the handbook on the IPACS Sport Governance Benchmark and Guidelines. The handbook is aimed at simplifying and guiding the implementation of the IPACS Sport Governance Benchmark and its 50 good governance recommendations. Targeted at practitioners working in sports organisations, the handbook will be particularly helpful for those starting their good governance journey. It will also support stakeholders looking to strengthen their governance. Following the latest Task Force meeting, the draft version of the handbook will now be finalised in due course, with the launch to coincide with the IPACS Annual General Conference on 23 October 2025.

Reviewing progress, planning the future

Led jointly by the Swiss government and the IPACS Support Office, the IPACS Steering Committee held its second meeting of the year in early July. On the agenda: progress achieved in promoting good governance, strengthening the collaboration between sports organisations and criminal justice authorities, and exploring the opportunities and threats of AI when it comes to fighting corruption in sport. The meeting also served to discuss the longer-term, strategic goals of IPACS and to approve new members of the IPACS Good Governance Task Force. The next meeting of the IPACS Steering Committee will take place in September in London (UK), to prepare the IPACS Annual General Conference a month later.

Links between AI and corruption in sport

The AI Working Group also met earlier this month to discuss mapping the current links between AI and corruption in sport, based on the results of a questionnaire distributed to all IPACS stakeholders in April. Participants split into two breakout groups to exchange views about next steps for the Working Group based on the findings – one group focusing on awareness-raising activities, and the other on tools and guidance. The input from the Working Group experts at this meeting will feed into a dedicated session on AI during the IPACS Annual General Conference.

Coming up

Looking ahead, IPACS already has a full agenda for the coming months. To name just a few, the IPACS Cooperation Task Force will hold its first meeting of the year In conjunction with the IPACS Steering Committee meeting in London on 10 September. The Steering Committee will then meet again in Lausanne on 23 October, just before the IPACS Annual General Conference.