On the seventh day of Sport Integrity Week 2023, events continued at a steady pace across more than 35 cities worldwide. In London, Dow Jones, one of SIGA’s founding members, hosted a special session on Financial Integrity and Transparency in Sport (FITS). This session was limited to a select number of relevant stakeholders.
Joel Lange, General Manager of Risk & Compliance at Dow Jones, warmly welcomed the guests and set the stage while offering insights into Sport Integrity and Financial Transparency. Lange emphasized the vital work that SIGA is actively pursuing, directly contributing to the development of Universal Standards on Financial Integrity in Sport.
Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, SIGA’s Global CEO, highlighted the commitment of the organizations participating in the FITS session, signalling a growing global focus on Sport Integrity issues.
Sport Integrity Week’s statistics speak volumes: more than 20 hosting countries, over 80 hosting partners, spanning more than 35 cities, and hundreds of events worldwide.
“I am proud of people’s energy and enthusiasm for change, and this is just the start!”, Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros stated.
Andrea Traverso, Director of Financial Sustainability & Research at UEFA, delivered a high-level keynote presentation, sharing relevant data with the audience. The numbers showcased that amidst crises, opportunities emerge, and Football Finance is rebounding from the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Following this engaging presentation, Traverso engaged in a fireside chat interview with Paul Nicholson, Editor-in-Chief of Inside World Football. During the morning session in London, a consensus emerged among all speakers: managing money demands regulation, transparency, and accountability.
Post-conference, Andrea Traverso commended SIGA’s role in ushering in an era of clean and safe sports: “It is important that SIGA is raising questions related to Integrity in Sport, and that so many like-minded organisations are aligning. UEFA is committed to improving good governance and transparency in football and is proud to be an active partner of SIGA.”
The first panel brought together Dickon Johnstone, CEO of Themis; Gavin Proudley, Head of Third-Party Risk Proposition at Dow Jones; and Oliver Wirz, COO/CFO of the Swiss Football League. The session was moderated by Sanjay Bhandari, Chair of Kick it Out. The panel explored the most pertinent topic: “What money can’t buy: Using due diligence and risk assessments as a growth catalyst in Sport.” Speakers shared their perspectives on integrity in business, including the nature of risks and practical steps for sports organizations and companies to identify, assess, and manage them.
The rapidly changing landscape of global sports consumption served as the central theme for a fireside chat between Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros and Mark Lichtenein, Chairman of the Sports Rights Owners Coalition (SROC). This conversation set the stage for the second panel session: “SIRVS: delivering accountability to the Sports Industry.”
A week after the Portuguese Professional Football League obtained SIRVS certification for Good Governance in Sport, a public presentation of SIGA Independent Rating and Verification System was made by David Butler, General Manager of the European Rugby League (the first-ever organization to undergo SIRVS), Densign White, CEO of IMMAF, Kate Beavan, Advisor to the Board of More Than Equal, Frank Lee, Head of SIGA’s Independent Audit Team, and Katie Simmonds, SIGA’s COO.
(Click for Frequently Asked Questions about SIRVS)
ABOUT SIGA
SIGA is the world’s leading organisation for Sport Integrity. We are creating a whole new landscape for the sports industry by delivering independent global rating and certification for world Sport to ensure it is governed and operates under the highest integrity standards: The SIGA Universal Standards.
Funded by our Members, SIGA is a non for profit global independent organisation with one aim: To ensure the sport industry is governed under the highest integrity standards so that the values of sport are protected.
SIGA is the only organisation to bring together sport, governments, academia, international organisations, sponsors, business, rights holders, NGOs and professional services companies, from every region in the world, around a common cause of fostering greater integrity throughout sport.
SIGA is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, as a non for-profit association, and comprises of the following continental subsidiaries: SIGA AMERICA, SIGA EUROPE and SIGA LATIN AMERICA.
For more information on SIGA, including its vision, mission and reform agenda, please refer to the website: www.siga-sport.com and FAQs.
To contact SIGA, please email: comms@siga-sport.com.
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