ASOIF participates in fourth International Forum for Sports Integrity

The fourth edition of the International Forum for Sports Integrity (IFSI) brought together more than 500 representatives of the Olympic Movement, governments, intergovernmental agencies, betting entities and other experts - including the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) and its member federations. The virtual event was organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 9 November 2021.

The participants acknowledged the importance of strengthening their cooperation, in particular through the International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport (IPACS), in order to protect the credibility and integrity of sport. IPACS was created during the second edition of IFSI in 2017.

ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti introduced the panel discussion dedicated to IPACS and said: “The relevance of sport in society is growing steadily and therefore sport is exposed to many influences. It’s a complex situation which sport organisations cannot tackle alone. We must enhance the cooperation between sport organisations, public authorities and business to protect the integrity of sport. IPACS provides us with a great tool to do so.”

IPACS has set up four Task Forces dedicated to developing actionable solutions for addressing specific areas of corruption in sport. In view of ASOIF’s expertise in reviewing the governance of International Federations, ASOIF has been very much involved in the work of Task Force 3 which aims to optimise the processes of compliance with good governance principles to mitigate the risk of corruption in sport organisations.

During the debate, the ASOIF President highlighted the efforts of International Federations in advancing good governance and reiterated: “Good governance is the foundation for the credibility of sport organisations. Sport organisations must ‘deserve’ their autonomy by demonstrating high standards of integrity.”

ASOIF will launch the fourth review of IF governance later this month and send a self-assessment questionnaire to all member federations. The results will be presented at the ASOIF General Assembly next year.

The second part of the Forum looked at ways to further strengthen the prevention of competition manipulation.

Click here to read the IOC’s news story on the fourth International Forum for Sports Integrity.