Background

Art. 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) legally recognises the importance of sport for the first time, calling on the EU to "contribute to the promotion of European sporting issues, while taking account of the specific nature of sport, its structures based on voluntary activity and its social and educational function".

In November 2010, at the occasion of the hearing on Sport at the European Parliament in Brussels, Prof. Michele Colucci launched the idea of an Erasmus Sports Programme.

In December 2011 the European Commission announced its programme "Erasmus for all" and presented a relevant legislative proposal which will examined and eventually approved by the European Parliament.

The General objectives for sports such as:

- to tackle trans-national threats to sport such as doping, match fixing, violence, racism and intolerance;
- to support good governance in sport and dual careers of athletes;
- to promote social inclusion, equal opportunities and health-enhancing physical activity through increased participation in sport

The type of activities put forward in the proposal is:

(a) support to transnational collaborative projects;
(b) support to non-commercial European sport events involving several European countries;
(c) support the strengthening of the evidence base for policy making;
(d) support to capacity building of sport organisations;
(e) dialogue with relevant European stakeholders.

Purposes

The main purposes of the Erasmus Sports Programme are:

1.) to allow Athletes to get trained in foreign clubs, sports academies, and sports associations;
2.) to easy the exchange of Athletes who are also enrolled at University or Sports Schools;
3.) to learn a language as well as a different culture, a different way to work and to play;
4.) to foster the exchange of volunteers at national or international sports events.

Scope

Taking into due account the specificity of Sport and the autonomy of each sports organization, the Erasmus program can cover both individual as well as team sport.
Co-operation agreements can be signed among sports Olympic committees, federations, leagues, amateur clubs, sports academies but also local and regional authorities, under the sponsorship of the European Union aiming at:

1. Organization of “Erasmus Sports Training Camps” during summer period and school holidays:
A federation, a league or a club could host clubs and individual athletes coming from all over Europe; the young athletes could participate to joint training sessions.

2. Organization of trans-national competitions for amateurs.
In the spirit of the Erasmus values “travel and discover” a tournament can involve young athletes coming from EU Member States.
With a modest economic support covering travel and/or accommodation expenses by the relevant institutions or organisers, many students/players will be glad to travel across Europe for several days of sports and fun. The organizing city shall be an attractive destination.
The European Union in general and its Erasmus programme in particular will gain in terms of image.

3. Composition of European Sports Teams (young athletes coming from different countries) could play exhibitions games.

4. Involvement of volunteers coming from different States in international sports events.
They could be part of the organization and be granted some tickets for International competitions involving National Teams and/or European clubs. Depending of the level and the competition, the number of places available will change.
All the above agreements could be concluded under the (political and/or financial) sponsorship of the European Union and within the framework of an “Erasmus Sports Programme”.

The "coalition"

A “Coalition” is established in order to facilitate the implementation the Erasmus programme in Sport.

The Coalition is open to:

(i) Sports Associations,
(ii) Clubs,
(iii) institutions,
(iv) municipalities,
(v) schools and universities,
(vi) students, athletes and volunteers,
(vii) private and public sponsors.

Everybody is welcome and everybody should play a role in such a programme according to its role and possibilities.

In order to join the coalition write to info@colucci.eu

Best practices

Hereafter please find some international tournaments which could serve as best practices in order to implement the Erasmus sports Programme

Football:
Gothia Cup
Dana Cup
Norway Cup
Karanba
Torneo internazionale di Latina
Danone Nations Cup

Handball:
Interamnia World Cup

Gymnastics:
XIV Internationalgym Trophy - XXI Italian Choreography Championship - VII International Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition

Pilot project

Some pilot projects will be established involving:

4 amateur clubs (football, basketball, handball, volleyball, and so on) from 4 different countries to take part in summer or winter camps for some weeks.

They will be hosted by one of the clubs with the support of the relevant municipality.

The Athletes will be participating to a tournament and - at the same time - will follow other educative and training activities such as (i) language courses, (ii) seminars and (iii)workshops which would fit the Commission’s priorities in relation to social inclusion, fight against doping, violence, racism, etc.

Most exchanges would also have to take place in pre-season / summer, so that normal seasons would not be affected.

If you and your club want to take part to a pilot project please write to Michele Colucci at info@colucci.eu

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all those who shared my enthusiasm for the Erasmus sports programme:

To my (Erasmus) students, to my children (Patrizio and Giulia) and to the amateur athletes across Europe who inspired me;

To the sports associations and clubs which showed an interest for the programme so far;

To Ann Beker, Antonella Frattini, Christian Sentinelli, and David Carrol who have been working hard to give some shape to the programme

To you for the attention and the support that you would like to give to the programme

Michele Colucci
Sports Law Professor,
Erasmus student (1993/1994) and amateur football player

Documents

REGULATION (EU) No 1288/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 December 2013 establishing 'Erasmus+': the Union programme for education, training, youth and sport and repealing Decisions No 1719/2006/EC, No 1720/2006/EC and No 1298/2008/EC

General Information

Call for proposals

Erasmus +: Sport, The Policy Context
Yves Le Lostecque, Head of Sport Unit - Directorate General for Education and Culture, European Commission

Erasmus +: Sport, Submission and Selection Procedures
Antonios Kosmopoulos, Head of Youth and Sport Unit, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency
Luciano di Fonzo, Head of Sport Sector, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency

Online submission of applications: pre-registration tool and demonstration of the E-form, Financial workshop
Bruno Breviglieri, Natasha Jovicic, Viera Kerpanova and Ingrid Trauner, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency

Contact