Due to numerous scandals in the past few years related to ethical questions the need for actions in terms of integrity and good governance in the field of sport is obvious. The public opinion on sport tends to become more negative than before and public authorities increase the pressure on sport governing bodies to implement principles of good governance as well as ensuring the integrity of sport competitions.

It´s fair to say that sport organisations are more aware of these challenges and have taken several initiatives including activities to fight against match fixing or to improve their governance. Regarding the latter, the EOC EU Office has taken up this challenge through the projects S4GG and SIGGS, which have provided direct support to sport organisations in order to improve their governance as well as being more efficient and having a more ethical way of functioning.

The involvement of the IOC in the consortium will allow the POINTS project to build on the concept of ‘Single Points of Contact’, developed within the IOC Integrity Betting Intelligence System (IBIS) and related to the fight against match-fixing.

With the POINTS Project, the EOC EU Office wants to adapt and further develop these activities to reach National Olympic Committees and European Federations. Another key aspect of the project will be to expand the scope of the concept of Single Points of Contact (SPOC) to other integrity issues. A holistic approach that would strengthen internal governance, risk management arrangements as well as prevention and education mechanisms within sport would help sport organisations to become more resistant to potential misconduct in relation to sport competitions and sport management.