Good Governance Leadership in Sport as Showcased by the Italian National Olympic Committee

It is probably fair to say that everybody with a passion for sport is concerned and saddened to see all the continued headlines about corruption, doping, match-fixing and other integrity issues in sport. Not only do such headlines take away attention and trust from the beautiful game. As a result of what is widely seen as sport organizations no longer being fit for purpose, fans, athletes, sponsors, governments and sport organizations are also starting to acknowledge the importance and urgency in bringing about change in the way that sport is governed.

In this process, challenging questions call for answers. For instance, questions such as what kind of governance issues pose the greatest risk to specific sport organizations and what evolving good sport governance practices look like or ought to look like. Based on the perspectives and frameworks offered in the first article  in this iSportconnect sport governance series, this article offers some answers to these questions through an interview with Giovanni Malagò, President of the Italian National Olympic Committee. Previous articles did the same through interviews with Marisol Casado, President of the International Triathlon Union and IOC Member; David Grevemberg, CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation and Poul-Erik Hoyer, President of the Badminton World Federation and IOC Member.

The strategic importance and urgency of good governance in sport

There are several reasons why more and more sport leaders consider good governance in sport as a challenge of strategic importance and urgency, as opposed to just regarding it as the nice thing or the right thing to do. Most importantly, a sound platform of good governance is the foundation for building trust, growth and performance into the future.

 Giovanni Malagò describes the case for good governance in sport in the following way: “Good governance in sport is simply becoming a mantra that we need to respect. It is a must that sports need to be clean.”

Evolving good governance practices in sport

While the media is mostly focused on cases of bad governance in sport these days, there are actually quite a few remarkable cases of evolving good sport governing practices too. Such cases offer great inspiration and learning, as sport governing bodies gear up for modernizing the way they are governed.

As far as the case of the Italian National Olympic Committee is concerned, Giovanni highlights that: “we have is a unique model in the world of sport. With no ministry of sport, the Italian National Olympic Committee comprises a mix of a traditional sport ministry and a traditional national Olympic committee. Authority to organize and promote sport in Italy is solely delegated to The National Olympic Committee, set up as a public foundation. This model stands out in the sense that it allows us to be closely in touch with the national sport federations, Olympic as well as non-Olympic.

The Italian National Olympic Committee is under the control and inspection of the Italian Ministry of Finance. Every day, we have representatives from the Ministry of Finance and the administrative judge overseeing spending of public funding visiting our offices as part of carrying out this role. We appreciate this reciprocity and cooperation. I have said since the beginning of my presidency that we have nothing to hide.” 

A specific example of the governance leadership that the Italian National Olympic Committee is showcasing is its focus on adapting to change. Giovanni Malagò describes it in the following way: “A lot of things are changing quickly in society, not least the demands of children and youth. We need to adapt our approaches to be able to continue growing participation in sport and to be able to continue attracting sponsors and media broadcasters. This includes a combined focus on sport for all, sport for development and sport performance.”

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