Emerging from a three-year consultation, it contains 59 articles in its final version. According to the ministry, these represent “as many advancements in terms of access to sports for the majority of our citizens, strengthening democracy within the sports movement, and protecting the economic model of sports.”
With less than 900 days until the Paris 2024 Games, the law championed by Roxana Maracineanu aims to establish a new model for sports, its practice, and governance. It casts a wide net, covering topics such as health sports, gender equality within institutions, education, the economic model of professional sports, and securing the practice.
Among the main measures adopted, we can mention:
– The inclusion of sports-health centers in the law,
– The opening of school sports facilities to sports associations,
– Limiting the number of terms for federation presidents to three,
– The obligation to allocate 50% of the general assembly votes of the federations to clubs,
– The option to offer an initial professional contract for 5 years instead of 3,
– The creation of an individual fixed fine of 500 euros for introducing, possessing, or using rockets or flares in sports venues.
However, the most discussed measure within the sports movement concerns the governance of the bodies. It establishes gender parity in the management bodies of sports federations, at the national level by 2024, and four years later at the regional level. Two years, therefore, to achieve parity. A real challenge. Among the 36 French Olympic sports federations, only three are presided over by women: Isabelle Jouin in field hockey, Nathalie Pรฉchalat in ice sports, and Anne-Chantal Pigelet in skiing.
According to calculations by the national Olympic committee (CNOSF), presided over since last June by a woman, Brigitte Henriques, for the first time in its history, the federal bodies currently count 62% men and 38% women at the national level. 14% of federations have less than 25% women in their bodies. At the regional level, the ratio is even more imbalanced: 69% men to 31% women. But the deadline to achieve parity has been set for the year 2028.
