The BESST project is thrilled to announce that the Winter European Youth Olympic Festival Bakuriani 2025 has agreed to implement the BESST Sports Events Legal Framework. The coordinating organisation EOA, together with the project partners, had presented the developed framework earlier this autumn, which provides step-by-step guidelines and checklists to help sports organisations and event organisers to integrate safeguarding standards effectively. The project is funded under the European Commissions’ Erasmus+ Sport programme and runs from 2023 to 2024.
‘That EYOF Bakuriani 2025 has shown interest in our Safeguarding Framework for Sports Events Organisers shows that our hard work in this project is bearing fruit, and it also provides a valuable opportunity to test the framework in close consultation and receive first-class feedback,’ says Soenke Schadwinkel, Project Coordinator of the BESST project.
For the implementation of the Sports Events Legal Framework, the Winter EYOF in Georgia will be supported by IGNITX, sports event experts and partners in the BESST team.
Georgia is set to host the 17th Winter European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) from February 9 to 16, 2025. The EYOF is the largest sporting event in Europe organised for youth. The event series under the umbrella of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) was first launched in Brussels, Belgium in 1991 and two years later, winter sports were added to the summer events, with Aosta, Italy hosting the first winter EYOF.
In Georgia, there will be young athletes from 46 NOCs to compete in a total of 8 winter sports across Bakuriani, Tbilisi, and Batumi.
About project BESST
The project Building European Safe Sport Together (BESST) is funded by the Erasmus+ programme from the European Commission. BESST developed a unified definition for the foundation of a European sports environment free of transgressive behaviours. With strong partners delivering academic research, a continent-wide network of organisations for dissemination, legal and project management, events delivery and sports organisations, the project has a full circle range of professionals with four key deliveries that effectively raise the maturity of the European sports on its safeguarding readiness.
The BESST project team consists of the following organisations: European Olympic Academies, IGNITX, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Rudi Hiti Academy, UEFA Foundation for Children, NOC of Netherlands (NOC*NSF), and NOC of Slovenia.
The project aimed:
- To develop a modern definition of transgressive behaviour in sport, with an extensive literature review of the most recent studies.
- To assess the statuses level of European sports organisations and event organisers.
- To develop legal frameworks with policies and procedures proposal for European sports organisations.
- To provide an awareness and education tool kit, facilitating the entities to use their communications channels to educate their communities about transgressive behaviour.
If you are interested in “walk the talk” and join our dissemination efforts, we invite you to get in touch with us at the email address below.
Contact:
info@eoaolympic.org
