This is the first book to present a critical analysis of the concept of the European Model of Sport (EMS). The EMS concept is widely used by policy makers at national and EU level, and by some sports organisations, yet it has never been comprehensively defined in official documents.
This book asks whether the EMS is real or imagined; evaluates its significance in a rapidly evolving European context and for world sport more broadly, and compares it against other models of sport in different regions of the world. The first section of the book is a multi-disciplinary analysis of the EMS, putting the EMS in historical context and examining the concept from political, economic, socio-cultural and legal perspectives. The second section of the book looks at different models of sport within Europe, including in Germany, the UK, Scandinavia and South-East Europe, and how they intersect with EU policy. The final section of the book looks at models of sport in North America, Latin America, China, Africa and the Arab World, highlighting key differences and similarities in order to illuminate our understanding of sport governance, policy and management around the world. Throughout, the book includes consideration of grassroots sport, going beyond traditional analyses which have focused primarily on professional sport.
In an era in which sport represents a dynamic arena for competition between corporations, NGOs, international organisations and nation states, this book is an essential reference for anybody with an interest in sport policy, sport governance, sport management, sport law, EU policy and law, the history of European integration, or the relationship between sport and wider society.
This is the first book to present a critical analysis of the concept of the European Model of Sport (EMS). The EMS concept is widely used by policy makers at national and EU level, and by some sports organisations, yet it has never been comprehensively defined in official documents.
1. Introduction: The European Model of Sport, a Political Concept That
Was Never Meant to Be, Part I: A Multidisciplinary Analysis of the European
Model of Sport,
2. How the Concept of the European Model of Sport was
Coined,
3. A Legal Assessment of the Status of the European Model of Sport
Following the Judgments of the Court of Justice on 21 December 2023,
4.
Socio-cultural Values in European Sport: A Selective Survey of Strategy and
Policy Papers EU Member States,
5. Patterns of Financing Sports in Europe,
6.
Sports Cultures in the European Union: An Analysis of Euroba-rometer Sport
and Physical Activity 2022 Data,
7. Redistribution and Solidarity in the
European Model of Sport, Part II: Models of Sport in Europe,
8. The
Scandinavian Sport Model,
9. The Western and Central European Model of Sport
Under Pres-sure: Between Societal Transformation and the Obstinacy of the
Neo-Corporatist Arrangement in Germany,
10. Sport Governance in South-East
Europe: From Socialist Self-management to Post-transition Politicization,
11.
The UK Model of Sport: Early Pioneer and Contemporary Revisionist, Part III:
Models of Sport Around the World,
12. The American and Canadian Sport Models:
Not One and the Same,
13. The Chinese Model of Sport: Empowered and
Restrained in the New Era,
14. Model of Sport in the Arab World: A European
Approach?,
15. Exploring Colombias National Sports System through the
European Model of Sport: Decentralization, Solidarity, and Sport,
16. The
African Sport Model: Between Pan-Africanism and European/Olympic Hegemony,
17. Conclusion: The European Model of Sport, a Mythical Reality
Borja Garcķa is Reader in sport policy and governance in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University, UK. He is also a founding member of the Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union (www.sportandeu.com). He has published extensively in top journals such as the Journal of European Public Policy, the Journal of Common Market Studies and European Sport Management Quarterly.
Vanja Smokvina is Associate Professor of sports law, labour and social security law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Rijeka, Croatia. He is the Head of the Institute of Sports Law, Sports Policies and Sports Diplomacy and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair in EU Sports Law, Policy & Diplomacy (20222025). Vanja is also an Arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, and member of the Scientific Committee of the UEFA Football Law Programme.
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