Stanis Elsborg is the head of the Play the Game, an initiative promoting democracy, transparency, and freedom of expression in world sport.
He served as coordinator and lead author of Play the Game's research project titled 'The power players behind Saudi Arabia's sports strategy'. This project mapped the inner circle driving Saudi Arabia's sports endeavour and uncovered more than 300 Saudi sponsorships in sport. The research highlighted numerous conflicts of interest and threats to the integrity of global sports.
Stanis is also the co-author, with Professor Hans Bonde, of the book "With the Body into Culture – Sports History Forays" (in Danish), which examines the role of the body in culture through the lens of sports history.
He holds a Master of Science in Humanities and Social Sport Sciences from the University of Copenhagen specialising in the field of sport, politics and national identity. He is also a guest lecturer at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen.
In 2022, he received the Gerlev Award in recognition of his contributions to sports analysis and debate. The Gerlev Award is given “for an effort which has particularly developed the qualities of sport or of the views on sport’s cultural position and possibilities. The award is given in order to encourage freedom of expression and democracy and to support initiatives that dare dispute the established sports political order.”