2024 will be remembered as a landmark year for sports, showcasing extraordinary achievements and moments of unity. From the resounding success of the Paris Summer Olympics and Paralympics, which inspired the world with its celebration of excellence and sustainability, to groundbreaking performances across disciplines, this year reaffirmed the unifying power of sport and the importance of our collective work and achievements.

None of this would have been possible without you, our incredible partners—the true teammates who ran this race with us, pushed the boundaries, and shared in every victory along the way. Thank you for this amazing year and count on us for an equally enriching 2025. The dates of our meetings and events are ready for you to save them in your agendas: have a look at our 2025 calendar.

Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS)

• In the context the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, an exhibition dedicated to values-based sport was launched during the Olympic Torch Relay, showcasing the shared principles of the European Sports Charter (ESC) and the Olympic Charter. The exhibition was displayed outside the Council of Europe’s Agora building in Strasbourg.
• The 18th Conference of Ministers Responsible for Sport, held on 9 October in Porto (Portugal) focused on collaborative governing and good governance in sport. Organised by EPAS in co-operation with the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth (IPDJ), the Conference brought together representatives from over 40 countries, youth delegates, and experts. The exchanges underlined the importance of aligning sport governance with democratic principles and societal needs, as underpinned by the European Sports Charter (ESC). The Conference concluded with the adoption of a Resolution, committing ministers to promote ethical, transparent, and collaborative governing in sport. This resolution calls for practical measures to improve governance structures, ensure equitable leadership opportunities, and strengthen the role of sport in fostering active and respectful societies. The Conference also provided a privileged opportunity to address Leadership through Gender Equality in Sport, and Dual Careers.
• The European Sports Charter (ESC) – the spinal cord of sport policies continued to underpin the work of EPAS throughout the year, in particular through the Support & Follow up visits which were conducted in Finland and Morocco.
• In the area of gender equality, a Breakfast Roundtable on Sport officiating and gender equality was held on International Women’s Day.
• The MARS Network (the Network of Magistrates/Prosecutors Responsible for Sports) held its third meeting on 18-19 June at Interpol, addressing money laundering, manipulation of sports competitions, and anti-doping while fostering co-operation among stakeholders. EPAS presented the DACCS database and the HELP course on human rights in sport to strengthen tools for combating transborder crimes.
• The annual joint plenary meeting of the EPAS Governing Board and Consultative Committee, held on 29-30 May in Strasbourg focused on the European Sports Charter (ESC), featuring a session where member states and sports organisations shared best practices on key themes, including human rights in sport, sport for all, education, inclusion of migrants and refugees, and sustainability. Delegations from Denmark and Ireland joined for the first time as new EPAS members, as well as the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Rugby Europe and the World Snowboard Federation (WSF) as new members of the Consultative Committee.
• The launch of the “Start to Talk” campaign in Cyprus on 18 September aimed at strengthening child safeguarding in sport, starting with a national conference to address major challenges and share best practices in the field. Training sessions for child safeguarding officers focused on trauma-informed approaches, equipping participants to create safer, healthier environments for young athletes across all levels of sport.
• The third annual meeting of the Pool of International Experts on Safe Sport, held on 3 December in Strasbourg included a seminar on trauma-informed child safeguarding practices in sport, organised within the framework of the Luxembourg Presidency, which emphasised creating safe environments and involving individuals with lived experience. The Pool also presented its 2024 deliverables, including a Glossary and a Compendium on Safe Sport, and agreed to finetune the preparations of guidelines and prepare a revised toolkit going forwards.
• The Conference “Equality and diversity in French-speaking sport: a reality?” was held at the start of the Olympic Games on 25 July in Paris, addressing discrimination, racism, and gender bias in Francophone sports. The Conference brought together key stakeholders to promote sport as a tool for social cohesion and inclusivity. Discussions focused on prevention, victim support, offender rehabilitation, and educational solutions to tackle deeply rooted social tensions manifesting in sports.

Anti-doping

• 2024 marked the 35^th Anniversary of the Anti-Doping Convention, celebrated by  the Monitoring Group of the Anti-Doping Convention in September which looked at the future of anti-doping, and identified challenges to be addressed such as children and anti-doping, doping in recreational sport, the criminalization of doping, or ensuring gender mainstreaming in anti-doping policies.
• The Monitoring Group continued to evaluate national anti-doping systems with its evaluation visits to Armenia, Austria, Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as strategic and legal assistance to the Republic of Moldova and Montenegro; and published the annual reports on anti-doping policies.
• Its Advisory groups provided expert input on the 2025 Prohibited List, the use of artificial intelligence in anti-doping education, improving the mutual support to the national anti-doping programmes, and, particularly, the updating of the World Anti-Doping Code and International Standards.
• The coordination of the European position in WADA continued throughout the year thanks to the CAHAMA meetings.

Safety, Security and Services at major sport events – the Saint-Denis Convention

• The Saint-Denis Convention welcomed the ratification by Denmark and Belgium, reaching the milestone of 30 ratifications, with the rising participation of new non-State Observers such as FIFPRO, European Leagues and IFSO.
• Monitoring visits were held in Greece and in Türkiye and the 3^rd annual/season monitoring report on the state of implementation of the Convention was adopted.
• The Saint-Denis Committee launched two thematic questionnaires: on the possession and use of pyrotechnics at sports events; and on the use of collective bans against away football supporters.
• The online course on the Saint-Denis Convention continues to reach new audiences with the signing of licensing agreements with UEFA and INTERPOL to make the online course available on their respective e-learning platforms.
• The number of linguistic versions of the toolkit of 16 factsheets on the Saint-Denis Convention increased with Spanish and Romanian.

Combating the manipulation of sports competitions – the Macolin Convention

• 2024 marked the 10th anniversary of the Macolin Convention. Celebrations began with plenary meetings of the Follow-up Committee and its Advisory Group in Macolin (Switzerland) and culminated with the 18th Conference of Ministers Responsible for Sport held in Porto in October (Portugal).
• For this 10^th anniversary, the Convention welcomed new members with the ratifications of Belgium, Lithuania, Spain, and …soon Sweden bringing the total number of Parties to 13. Technical assistance missions to Portugal and Iceland enabled to improve the functioning of the national platforms of both countries.
• An event on "Following the Money in Sports Competitions Manipulation" brought together on 14 November experts combating organised crime, money laundering and cybercrime.
• As part of the project “Addressing Competitions’ Manipulation Together” (ACT), a targeted training on intelligence and investigations into match-fixing was provided to police officers, prosecutors and ministry officials in March.
• The global relevance of the Macolin Convention was once again confirmed in April on the occasion of a regional conference held in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on combating sports manipulation and illegal betting.

All In Plus – promoting greater gender equality in sport

• The All In Plus joint European Union (EU) - Council of Europe (CoE) project: promoting greater gender equality in sport launched its extensive data collection campaign on 6 key indicators in over 20 countries.
• The second media informative session brought together a unique network of European sports media professionals at the EBU Headquarters in Geneva on 22 November.
• A library of best practices was created with 77 new examples of best practice in the area of greater gender equality in sport.
• A series of 6 videos featuring role models have been edited and published on the All In Plus website.
• The Project received the “Grand Prix Edouard Eskenazi” on the occasion of the 2024 AFCAM Awards (Association Française du Corps Arbitral Multisports) in recognition of its work highlighting the benefits of gender equality in officiating and more specifically promoting women's refereeing. 

Combating Hate Speech

• The Combating Hate Speech in Sport joint EU-CoE project ended, laying down the solid foundation for future commitments to combat hate speech, making sports safe, secure, inclusive, and respectful for all.
• The project delivered toolkits, good practices, educational materials and the #SportISRespect campaign guidelines which are available in the Resource Centre.

Strengthening the Safety and Service Pillars of the Saint-Denis Convention

• The joint EU-CoE project Balance S4 was launched!
• A pilot diagnosis on safety and service was conducted and two awareness-raising workshops held. And the best place in Strasbourg to discuss inclusion, accessibility and changing demographics at sports events proved to be the Stade de la Meinau - the unique setting for Balance S4 Awareness Raising Workshop on Safety at Sports Events.