ENGSO Youth represents Youth Sport at the 2026 EU Sport Forum

The EU (European Union) Sport Forum is the European Union’s flagship event for the sport sector, bringing together European sport stakeholders to discuss EU sport policy. It is organised every year during the first semester by the European Commission and hosted by the EU country holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU.

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This year’s EU Sport Forum took place from 15 to 16 April in Paphos, Cyprus, the EU country which is currently holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU. 

 

Content wise, the event started with the usual policy updates from the European Commission, which highlighted:

  • The Council Conclusions on Sport Tourism currently being discussed at the Council of the EU;
  • The Open Method of Coordination (OMC) on sport and mental health, and on promoting athletes’ rights within the context of good governance in sport – the OMC is a voluntary, non-binding EU framework aimed at fostering cooperation between Member States, acts as a collaborative tool to share best practices and develop evidence-based policies;
  • The events and campaigns such as the EU Sport Forum, the 2026 European Week of Sport, the BeActive nights, BeActive Winter initiative during the first 2 weeks of February 2027, the BeActive EU Sport Awards (23 June in Brussels); 
  • Focusing on promoting the European Sport Model and the upcoming strategy for European Sports that is based on the public consultations held in the previous months;
  • Focus also on HEPA (Health Enhancing Physiccal Activity);
  • The European Commission proposal for Erasmus+ 2028-2034 

 

The first parallel session of the event (rewarding talent in sport: boosting solidarity and competitive balance) was unanimous in the contribution of grassroots sports in providing the talent and basis for the whole sport ecosystem to flourish. The main question was how sports can close the circle and ensure the necessary financial solidarity to keep supporting grassroots sport in its mission to developing communities and societies both in social terms, but also with regards to health and physical activity. There was a general consensus on the importance of redistributing the funds earned at the professional level, but also capacitate grassroots sport technically by training human resources. 

 

The upcoming Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU presented their priorities for the second semester of 2026 and their intention on focusing on the topic of traditional sports and games with the Directors-General Meeting for Sport foreseen before the opening of the European Week of Sports (21-23 September).

 

On the second and last day, the EU Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, Glenn Micallef highlighted the importance of the European Model of Sport as a fundamental values-based European model of organising Sport. 

 

Vice-President of UEFA, Laura McAllister, highlighted the perils of excessive commercialisation which might put in danger the grassroots, exemplifying with UEFA’s opposition against domestic games being played outside of the country of origin and recent attempts to have a breakaway European Super League.

 

As every year, ENGSO Youth was represented at the EU Sport Forum to make sure:

  • Young people are part of the conversation;
  • Youth voices are reflected in EU Sport Policy;
  • Young generations help shape the sport ecosystem. 

 

This necessarily entails a strong European Model of Sports with voluntary-based organised grassroots sport at its core, fully supported by the necessary solidarity mechanisms and strengthened by democratic and transparent sport governance, one that meaningfully includes young people at the decision-making tables. 

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