Sociology of Sport

Sociology of Sport This report, presented to the Helsinki European Council on 11 and 12 December 1999, is the result of the mandate given to the Commission by the Vienna European Council on 11 and 12 December 1998. 2. Sport is one of the areas of activity that most concerns and brings together the citizens of the European Union, irrespective of age and social origin. More than half of them regularly practice a sport, either in one of the 700 000 clubs that exist …

…sports protagonists (federations, Member States and the European Community), all of them working in isolation, could thwart the efforts to achieve these common principles. In contrast, the convergent efforts of the European Community, the Member States and the sports federations could make an effective contribution to the promotion in Europe of sport in a form that remains true to its social role, while enabling its organisational aspects to take account of the new economic order.