The annual EU Sport Forum is taking place on 10 and 11 April in Krakow, Poland, bringing together key stakeholders to discuss the promotion of a European Sport Model (ESM), the role of sport within education and in the context of EU enlargement, the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in sport, persisting challenges of piracy of sporting events, and the welfare of athletes. The Forum further provided an opportunity to reflect upon the insights gleaned from the implementation of Erasmus+ Sport actions and to further underscore the necessity of ensuring adequate funding for sport within the forthcoming post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). In a keynote speech, Thomas Bach, outgoing President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), reaffirmed the intrinsic link between the ESM and Olympic values grounded in autonomy, transparency and solidarity, and called for stronger collaboration between European Institutions and the Olympic Movement.

EOC EU Office’s partners actively participated in several panel sessions. Spyros Capralos, President of the European Olympic Committees, participated in the high-level panel on “Strengthening our ESM based on solidarity, values and competitiveness”, alongside Commissioner for sport, Glenn Micallef. Anneke van Zanen-Nieberg, President of the Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Confederation, stressed the importance of safeguarding the physical and mental health of athletes during the panel on “Rights and Wellbeing of Athletes”, while Morten Pohl, Manager of Digitalisation and AI at the German Olympic Committee (DOSB), shared DOSB’s best practice examples during the discussion on “AI in Sport: What Lies Ahead?”. Additionally, Katarzyna Gorgol, Regulatory Counsel at the IOC, contributed to the “Piracy of live sport events” session, sharing challenges of broadcasting Olympic Games, while Kersti Kaljulaid, President of the Estonian Olympic Committee, took part at a high-level panel on the role of sport in EU enlargement, emphasising the role of Erasmus+ projects for capacity building and promotion of values in times of political instability and societal divisions.