ABSTRACT
Introduction Governance has been one of the most fashionable topics in European sport in the last decade. This interest in sport governance is relatively recent, though. It took high-pro le scandals for the sporting movement and public authorities (meaning governmental institutions and authorities across di erent levels of governance, including national, supranational (EU) and subnational) alike to question the credentials and the e ectiveness of the structures organising sport in Europe. The bribes of International Olympic Committee (IOC) members around the election of Salt Lake City to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and other subsequent accusations of corruption within the IOC put the issue rmly in the headlines. Approximately at the same time, the doping scandal of the Festina team in the 1998 Tour de France questioned the willingness of governing bodies to tackle widespread doping practices in sport. Governments and sponsors around the world demanded reforms if the IOC and the world of sport were to regain their credibility. But, more importantly, this generated a renewed interest in the governance of sport. Questions were raised not just about corruption, but also more generally about the structures of European sport, the role of non-governmental sports organisations, the need for the involvement of public authorities and the transformation of European sport in the last decades as a result of commercialisation and massive professionalisation.
