Acclaimed professionals discuss good governance in Danish sport

Corruption scandals in international sports have filled the political agendas for the last decade.

FIFA, the IAAF, and the IOC regularly hit the headlines worldwide, and an increasing number of international sports organisations today claim that 'good governance' is the way forward. Meanwhile, Danish sports professionals often fight hard to be heard in the international forums.

But how well does Danish sports actually perform? Is the culture of leadership in Danish sports really as good as it is often made out to be? 

This will be the question when Play the Game hosts the seminar 'Good governance in Danish sport: How good are we really?' on September 18, 2018. The seminar will be held in collaboration with the Danish Football Association (DBU) with the participation of the Danish Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (DIF) as well as a number of speakers from outside the sports world.

Danish results up for debate

At the seminar, Play the Game will publish the Danish results from the National Sports Governance Observer project that has assessed the sports management culture in nine European countries and Brazil. Results from the other participating countries will also be included to some extent.

In addition, three main themes will be highlighted throughout the day’s programme:

• How does sport do in relation to, for example, business and culture institutions in terms of management culture. What inspiration can we draw from outside our own rows?
• What does sport's international credibility crisis mean for Danish sports? Are there lessons to be learned from the crises in the big international federations?
• What strengths and weaknesses exist in Danish sports governance and how to ensure development?

Jesper Møller, chairman of DBU, Niels Nygaard, chairman of DIF and vice-chairman of the European Olympic Committees, and Pia Holmen, director of the Danish Swimming Union, are among the Danish sports leaders who will discuss the Danish results and point out improvement potentials in their own rows.

Significant input from the outside

The debate will not only focus on the role of sports organisations. In order to broaden up the field of discussion, the sports leaders speaking at the seminar will be supplemented by a number of high profiles leaders from the cultural, corporate and political realms to give their version of what responsible leadership looks like. 

Among the panelists are:

• Lars Liebst, CEO of Tivoli Gardens and former chairman of the Danish Ministry of Culture's Cultural Governance Committee
• Per Gunslev, State Authorised Public Accountant, Committee of Corporate Governance, Denmark
• Mogens Jensen, MF (S), Sports Policy Rapporteur and Responsible for Report on Sports Governance to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

The National Sports Governance Observer is supported by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme and includes at least eight national sports federations in each of the participating countries: Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania and Germany. Play the Game manages the project.

Thanks to a special grant from the Danish Parliament to promote good governance, Play the Game has also been able to include Montenegro and Brazil in the project, and countries such as Australia, Canada, Colombia, Georgia, Lithuania, Peru and Spain are currently entering the project.