Front Line Op-Ed: What If Governing Well Isn’t That Complicated?

Nuno Perestrelo0

Launched on 4 June 2026 in Record, Portugal’s leading sports newspaper, SIGA’s weekly opinion column Linha da Frente (Front Line, in Portuguese) provides a dedicated platform to address issues at the heart of SIGA’s global agenda, including Sport Integrity, good governance, transparency, accountability, financial integrity, sports betting integrity, sustainability, youth development and protection, and the future of sport.

Click to read this week’s article in Portuguese.

What If Governing Well Isn’t That Complicated?

By Nuno Perestrelo
Senior Director of Communications, Media and Events, SIGA

 

“We are all a little bit doctor and a little bit madman.” I grew up amused by the wisdom of this popular Portuguese saying — and, like almost everyone else, recognised myself in it.

More than 30 years of close involvement with sport have taught me that, alongside medicine (and madness), we can add other areas of universal expertise. We are all armchair coaches, we all understand refereeing better than the referees and, when the results fail to come, we all know how to run a club better than those who were designated to do so.

For many years, as a journalist, I observed that world from the outside. I crossed paths with hundreds of sports officials: some responsible for powerful organisations, others for small clubs or sports with minimal resources. Looking back, I remain convinced of one thing: with greater or lesser competence, almost all of them took on their mandates with a genuine desire to do better, leave a legacy and make a difference.

It took moving to the other side to understand the problem more clearly.

When, in 2020, I left the newsroom and began working professionally for the cause of Sport Integrity at SIGA, and later also took on leadership responsibilities at a sports club and the Portuguese American Football Federation, I confirmed a long-held suspicion: everyone does their best.

The problem is that, all too often, organisations know very little about what they should actually be doing.

I also discovered that a lack of money, although almost always a genuine issue, is not necessarily the greatest obstacle. In some organisations, the lack of expertise, processes, clear rules, defined responsibilities or mechanisms capable of preventing a routine problem from becoming a crisis is far more serious.

Often, the problem is not the people. It is the structure. The history. The “we’ve always done it this way”.

That is why I follow with particular interest the successive governance crises affecting international sport, including the recent controversies surrounding FIFA, with allegations, divisions and institutional manoeuvring once again placing issues such as transparency, independence, accountability and scrutiny at the heart of the debate.

If organisations with a global reach, considerable resources and professional structures are not immune to reputational crises that could, in many cases, easily have been prevented, what does that say about the others?

The solution is less complex than it seems: follow proven good governance practices.

We all understand, for example, that an organisation should compare proposals before contracting a service, clearly define who decides what, separate incompatible functions, document relevant decisions, and establish mechanisms for declaring and managing conflicts of interest.

The problem begins when what seems obvious is no longer written down, systematised and subject to oversight.

That is precisely what standards are for.

No serious industry operates on good intentions alone. Aviation, the automotive industry, banking and construction all follow standards, procedures and verification mechanisms. Not because all their professionals are incompetent or suspect, but because robust organisations cannot depend exclusively on individual common sense.

Sport should be no different.

There are now frameworks specifically designed for the sector. Among them are the freely available SIGA Universal Standards, which establish concrete principles and practices across four fundamental areas: Good Governance; Financial Integrity; Sports Betting Integrity; and Youth Development and Protection.

They are not a statement of intent. They are a practical guide to reducing risks, establishing responsibilities and helping clubs, leagues and federations understand what they should do before a problem arises.

But adopting standards is only the beginning.

One of the great lessons I brought with me from journalism is that there is an enormous difference between asserting and demonstrating. In sport, everyone defends integrity. Everyone values transparency. Everyone says they believe in good governance.

The real question is different: can they prove it?

That is where independent scrutiny comes in. After establishing rules and adopting standards, it is necessary to assess whether they are actually being followed, identify shortcomings and correct what is not working. That diagnosis can be conducted confidentially and constructively; compliance can then be independently assessed and verified through mechanisms such as the SIGA Independent Rating and Verification System (SIRVS).

The European Rugby League, and Liga Portugal have already undergone this process, and European Aquatics is another example of an organisation that voluntarily decided to subject its practices to external scrutiny and achieved the Bronze level in its certification.

This is the cultural shift that sport still needs to consolidate.

Integrity is not saying that you have integrity. Good governance is not claiming that you govern well. Transparency is not publishing half a dozen documents on a website.

All of this has to be demonstrated.

And when the standards exist, are available and there are mechanisms through which their implementation can be verified, perhaps the question is no longer why an organisation should take that step.

The question is why it has not done so already.

– THE END –

Previous Front Line articles

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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