On Friday 25 April 2025 in Zagreb (Hotel Academia), in a hybrid way, under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, an international conference “Social and legal protection of athletes in Europe: through national practice to European coordination” was organised by the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka and its Department of Sports Law, Sports Policies and Sports Diplomacy and the German Sports University – Cologne, Germany.
The conference began with a presentation of Jurgen Mittag and Lorenz Fiege on the results of the three-year Erasmus + sport project – SOPROS, and presented the evaluation of the social and legal protection of athletes at national levels, highlighting examples of good practice. The purpose of the SOPROS project is also to investigate how EU countries, but also some others such as the UK, EU candidate countries and other countries such as the USA, ensure social and legal protection of athletes. The first keynote speaker of the conference was our celebrated Olympian and now Paralympian Sandra Paović. Then the first panel was held entitled: “Status Quo: examples of good and bad practice at the national level“, which was attended by: Martina Jeričević (Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Croatia), Laura Montvilaite (Lithuanian Ombudsman for Athletes), Miloš Milenković (Olympic Committee of Serbia), Nik Berger (KADA – Institution for Education and Training of Elite Athletes of Austria, Austria) and Gordan Kožulj (Deloitte Croatia and member of the Croatian Olympians Club). The first panel was chaired by Vanja Smokvina (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law).
After the break, the second key-note speech was given by Erica Puppo (FIFPro Europe – the world union of professional footballers) who presented the significant results in terms of maternity protection and family protection achieved through FIFPro activities at the global level through the implementation in the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Athletes. Then, a second panel was held on the topic: “Social and legal protection of athletes in the European model of sport – towards a new key feature?” with the participation of Simona Kustec (former Minister of Sports of Slovenia, and now professor at the University of Primorska, Slovenia), Walter Palmer (former NBA player and representative of the World Players – the world association of athletes), Deena Blacking (The Cyclists Alliance – the association of female cyclists). The panel was chaired by Andrea Cattaneo (Edge Hill University, UK). Our celebrated Olympians, together with Sandra Paović and Gordan Kožulj, Snježana Pejčić and Vlado Šola from the NOC of Croatia Career Centre also participated in the conference.
Picture Gallery
