Play the Game has received a friendly, but unclear answer to the proposal of a global code for good governance in sport which ended the Play the Game 2011 conference.[more]

Bringing change to the heart of sport was the slogan for the 2011 Play the Game conference. Judging from media coverage of the conference, there is little doubt that the heart of sport lies in football, and its main affliction is...[more]

The 2011 Play the Game conference concluded with a call to the International Olympic Committee to organise a world conference before the end of 2012 in order to draft a code and international standards for good governance in...[more]

Two veteran investigative journalists, Jens Weinreich from Germany and Andrew Jennings from the United Kingdom, receive the 2011 Play the Game award in recognition of their tireless work documenting and bringing the enormous...[more]

The contrasts between football’s multi millionaires and its less powerful stakeholders were highlighted on the third day of the Play the Game conference. Through research, documentaries and investigations, a number of filmmakers...[more]

The live streaming from Play the Game 2011 has now ended. A number of on-demand videos and audio files can be found here: And here: Livestream.com.[more]

In a sensational session at Play the Game, FIFA’s new communications director, Walter De Gregorio, confronted Andrew Jennings during a session on corruption in FIFA and refuted the veteran investigative journalist’s claim that he...[more]

The “most extraordinary story I ever worked on” is how sports writer James Corbett described the bidding procedure for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. Corbett followed the process closely through his involvement with World...[more]

After years of trying to engage FIFA in open debate about issues of governance in world football, organisers of the Play the Game conference were surprised to learn that FIFA's new Director of Communications and Public Affairs...[more]

Why are so many sports governing bodies based in Switzerland?[more]

Whilst WADA is well-established, there are still a lot of challenges in anti-doping work. The cheats are getting better all the time, and international federations lack resources for quality testing. Meanwhile athletes believe...[more]

What should decide whether an athlete can take part in a female sports competition? A test for levels of androgen? Or should the athlete be allowed to make the decision personally by signing a self-declaration of gender?[more]

The governing body of aquatic sports is getting richer and becoming less unaccountable, a former Olympic swimmer told Play the Game.[more]

The next football World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games threaten to produce a catalogue of white elephants for Brazil, while restricting benefits to the business community, a panel of academics warned at today’s Play the Game.[more]

Are the security measures implemented at sports events always in proportion to the threat? Or are security issues being used to protect narrow business interests and profitability?[more]

UEFA revealed fresh details on the woeful state of European club football to Play the Game ahead of the introduction of the new Financial Fair Play measure that aims to curb the game’s endemic losses.[more]

“We’re breeding white elephants. There are herds of them”, a leading stadium consultant has told Play the Game. Ian Nuttall, a consultant at stadiumbusiness.com, was referring to the underused mega-stadiums that are the legacies...[more]

Mega-events may trigger the building of iconic stadiums and plenty of promises about a sparkling future. But in reality the result is often oversized, expensive structures that turn into financial burdens. A new, on-going study...[more]

An acceptance of hooliganism is growing and fuelling both right wing extremism and corruption, warned a trio of academic researchers at Play The Game 2011. In Argentina, clubs pay fans not to cause trouble whilst in Germany...[more]

Bloggers from different countries are following Play the Game. Blogs in English: American Professor Roger Pielke, Jr., from the University of Colorado, is blogging from the conference. You can read his blog here Blogs in...[more]

The Military Academy Stadium in Cairo, Egypt looked as though it was on fire. Sizzling flares peeked through the smoke at intervals. A closer look at James M. Dorsey’s video presentation at the 2011 Play The Game Conference...[more]

Few people can be unaware that 2011 has been a momentous year for the many Arab nations. Successful uprisings in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, and ongoing conflicts in Bahrain, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere have made headlines across...[more]

Presentations and images from the conference are now available. Play the Game 2011 in Cologne kicked off yesterday with a number of great speakers. You can see PDFs of their presentations here You can...[more]

Match fixing is going through the same transition as popular music sales went through in the 1990s when it went online, author Declan Hill told delegates at the 2011 Play the Game conference. Asian sport is already much...[more]

The IOC should take the lead in mobilising sports organisations to deal with corruption. Although sports organisations are unable to fight corruption without the help of authorities, it would be wrong to expect governments to...[more]

FIFA has lost all public confidence that it is willing to, or even capable of, handling the problems of corruption that the organisation is currently facing. So blunt was the assessment from long-term IOC member, Richard W....[more]

With 330 participants and 140 speakers, Play the Game 2011 has opened in Cologne. It is the largest conference since Play the Game started focusing on sport's most urgent challenges 14 years ago.[more]

Sports journalism focuses almost exclusively on results, tournaments and top athletes. According to new research on sports coverage in 80 newspapers from 22 countries presented at the Play the Game conference in Cologne on 3...[more]

Are you unable to attend Play the Game? Instead you can watch presentations from some of the many interesting speakers and follow the key debates through live streaming from the conference or video on demand.[more]

That FIFA has governance problems is now generally recognized, but what are the prospects for reforms, asks Roger Pielke in this analysis based on the paper 'How Can FIFA be Held Accountable?', which will be presented at Play the...[more]

Senior FIFA Vice President Julio Grondona's bid for a ninth term as Argentina Football Association president is being challenged by Fernando Raffaini, head of the football club Velez Sarsfield.[more]

Europe needs stronger governance within the sports themselves so that it becomes impossible for players, presidents, officials or anyone else to affect the outcomes of sporting contests, argues Khalid Ali, Secretary General at...[more]

Sport is huge business and the influence of the underworld is getting greater by the year. The threat is so acute that it needs to be addressed head on, argues David Howman, Director General of WADA, in the fifth contribution to...[more]

With less than two weeks to go, it is time to register for a unique occasion to network directly with sports political heavyweights, leading experts and top media professionals in international sport.[more]

It would be disastrous if politicians took over the governing of sport. To avoid such a worst case scenario, it is essential that sport federations at all levels work a lot more with good governance, argues Niels Nygaard,...[more]

Why spend time and money on attending Play the Game conferences in person? A journalist and an academic explain why they are coming back for their fifth Play the Game conference.[more]

Corruption in various forms is right now on top of the international sports agenda. Some of world football’s most experienced officials will address the challenge at Play the Game 2011.[more]

In the third contribution to Play the Game’s series on corruption and good governance in sport, Swiss journalist Jean François Tanda looks at the recent problems in FIFA and argues that the main problem is the lack of willingness...[more]

Watch the Play the Game press conference at German Sport University Cologne from 14 September via streaming on the web. The programmes of Play the Game 2011 and Deutschlandfunk’s seminar on sport journalism in October were...[more]

In this second contribution to Play the Game’s exclusive comment series on corruption in sport leading up to the Play the Game 2011 conference, Thomas Bach, Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), highlights...[more]

In the run up to Play the Game 2011 taking place in Cologne early October, playthegame.org launches a series of comments on corruption and good governance in sport with exclusive contributions from high profile sport leaders and...[more]

In this first entry in a comment series Sylvia Schenk, Senior Advisor on sport in Transparency International, opens the sport governance debate arguing that corruption, the lack of transparency and other governance problems is an...[more]

With a record number of more than 150 speakers, Play the Game 2011 is heading for its biggest and most wide-ranging conference since its start 14 years ago.[more]

In less than two months, the seventh edition of the world communications conference Play the Game 2011 starts and will present its most extensive programme yet. Benefit from the reduced fee by signing up before September 1.[more]

The fight against corruption, match fixing and abuse of power in international sport is increasingly on the international political agenda and top politicians will continue the debate at Play the Game 2011.[more]

The preliminary programme for Play the Game 2011 presents more than 100 speakers who will debate how to bring change to the heart of sport[more]

For the third consecutive conference, the journalist unions of Denmark and Norway have made a considerable contribution to Play the Game’s travel grant programme allowing sports journalists from less privileged countries to...[more]

The national radio Deutschlandfunk and Play the Game enter a partnership to inspire sports journalism and render tangible benefits to both international and German participants in Cologne[more]

IWF President Tamás Aján and Brazilian world champion and social entrepreneur Raí are among the first new names on the list of speakers for Play the Game 2011[more]

A very succesful opening round for abstract submissions and the late addition of a new theme have led the Play the Game 2011 programme organisers to open a new call for papers. They are encouraging academics, journalists, sports...[more]