At the occasion of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Sofia hosted the EU Sport Forum 2018 on March 22 and 23. Over 350 participants attended the event which brought together policy makers and key stakeholders active in European sport. Smart Sport partners, the Bulgarian Olympic Committee and the EUSA Institute were also represented in Sofia.
Organised yearly, the EU Sport Forum is 'the place to be' for European sport and the main platform for dialogue between the European Commission and other key sport stakeholders.
Under the banner 'Sport in Europe, investing for future generations,' this year's edition had a special focus on the role of sport in international relations and covered several current topics, including sustainable sport and the Olympic Games, role of sport in promoting international cooperation, EU Work plan for sport 2017-2020, healthy lifestyle and follow-up to the Tartu Call for Action, breaking the glass ceiling and promotion of gender equality in sport, sport and climate change, transfer of players, role of sport in development of cities and regions, promotion of European Values through sport, opportunities of innovation and digital technologies in sport, etc.
Apart from big interest to attend the event in person, live webstreaming enabled the interested audience to follow the EU Sport Forum online as well. The event was opened by Mr Tibor Navracsics, EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport together with Mr Krasen Kralev, Bulgarian Minister of Youth and Sports and Ms Yordanka Fandakova, the Mayor of Sofia.
At the event, an informal project meeting was held between Ms Kristiana Kazandzhieva representing the Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC) and Mr Andrej Pisl, representing the EUSA Institute. Smart Sport project on dual career, working on introducing new technologies and creating networks for supporting dual career good practices, was also promoted at the event to the participants.
For more information, please see https://ec.europa.eu/sport/eu-sport-forum-2018_en