The Pool of International Experts on Safe Sport is the single-entry point to a unique source of multi-disciplinary expertise covering all forms of violence and abuse against children in sport. It brings together policymakers, researchers and academics, specialists supporting people with lived experience, safeguarding officers, trainers/consultants and agents of change.

The Pool was set up in the context of the joint European Union-Council of Europe “Child Safeguarding in Sport” (CSiS) project; since the finalisation of the project in June 2022, the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) has supported the continuation of the work of the Pool, linking it to the “Start to Talk” project.

The first annual meeting of the Pool of International Experts on Safe Sport was held on 6 December 2022 in hybrid format (Strasbourg, France and online). The meeting aimed at defining the Pool’s goals and priorities for 2023-2024 and exchanging information and best practices on activities relating to safe sport. The meeting was opened by Sophie Kwasny, Executive Secretary of EPAS, and Óskar Þór Ármannsson, Senior Adviser at the Icelandic Ministry of Education and Children. Mr Ármannsson presented the Ministry’s activities in the field of safe sport on behalf of the Icelandic Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Two representatives of the Communication Counsellor for Sports and Youth in Iceland, Sigurbjörg Sigurpálsdottir and Aron Freyr Kristjánsson, also intervened to present the role of the Communication Counsellor office in the development of child safeguarding strategies in sport.

A round table on Child participation in policy-making in sport was held in the afternoon. Speakers were Professor Laura Lundy, Dr Melanie Lang, José Ignacio Alonso Romero (Athletic Club Bilbao), Iris Hugo-Bouvier (UEFA), and Maria Asensio Velasco and Anna Bracco (Children’s Rights Division of the Council of Europe).

The next annual meeting of the Pool of International Experts on Safe Sport will take place in October 2023 (exact date to be confirmed).