ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the role of sport policy systems in shaping sport governance practice in Europe. Sport is a fundamental pillar of European civil society. European governments have acknowledged the benefits that sport provides in terms of social cohesion, health and national pride, and also the economic benefits related, for example, to jobs and tax revenue. The Cyprus Sport Organisation Sports Academy promotes education and training for people involved in the administrative and governing bodies of sport organisations, particularly the administrative personnel and volunteer board members of the sport federations. The Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union and has roughly 17 million people. The country’s sports system is a social configuration, which suggests that the development of sports policy is a collaborative process involving the government and civil society through the voluntary sports movement. The provisions in Cyprus’s Code are largely similar to comparable policy-oriented documents in places like Flanders and the United Kingdom.
