By Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros
Co-Founder & Global CEO, SIGA
Sport asks athletes to respect its rules, supporters to believe in its competitions and communities to invest in its future. Those who govern Sport have a duty to honour that trust.
I believe we can make Sport worthy of that trust. I believe there are far more people ready to help than have yet been brought into a common effort. The expertise and commitment are already there. Our task is to give them a shared purpose and the means to act.
On 1 November, Sport Integrity Action Month 2026 kicks off worldwide. Throughout November, SIGA is calling on organisations and individuals everywhere to join a global celebration of Sport’s values and give those values practical expression, on and off the field of play.
I want this invitation to reach you: whether you lead an institution, run a business, teach, research, compete or volunteer. Whatever your role, there is something you can contribute. Bring what you know, connect with others and help make the benefit reach beyond your own organisation or community.
Take part in Sport Integrity Action Month 2026
THE CHANGE WE CAN MAKE POSSIBLE TOGETHER
Parents who bring a child to a club or youth academy are placing trust in the adults responsible for that child. An athlete who raises a concern is asking to be heard and treated fairly. Supporters who give their time and passion and sponsors and other commercial partners who invest their money and brand reputation want Sport to be in responsible hands. Sport Integrity gives those expectations a practical meaning.
I want this Sport Integrity Action Month to celebrate the people who honour that trust every day.
When a coach shares an approach that helps another club, or research gives a governing body the evidence to improve a policy, the benefit reaches beyond those who began the work. That is how individual contributions become collective progress.
One organisation can improve its own practices. Organisations acting together can change what Sport expects of itself.
A good idea becomes more valuable when someone else can use it. Share a lesson from your organisation and explain what worked and what you would do differently. Give another team a chance to build on your experience, and be ready to learn from theirs. This is how a shared cause becomes a working community.
Last year, the inaugural Sport Integrity Action Month brought together more than 150 organisations across 18 countries and generated over 50 official events. Building on Sport Integrity Week, it created more opportunities for people to contribute in their own countries and communities. This year, let us widen that circle and bring the work into more communities.
ON THE FIELD OF PLAY AND BEYOND IT
Start with an initiative that matters to the people you serve, and give others a reason to join it.
Convene a debate that people can act upon. Bring those who make decisions into the same conversation as the people affected by them. A league can engage clubs, athletes, supporters and public authorities on football governance or sports betting integrity. Publish the questions requiring an answer and agree who will take the next steps. Give the discussion a purpose that continues after everyone has left the room.
Put research to work. Share findings on financial transparency, conflicts of interest, artificial intelligence or sustainability with people who can use them. Ask athletes, coaches or volunteers about their experience. A well-designed survey can reveal a gap that a policy document leaves unseen. Listen for the voice missing from the discussion and help bring it in.
Take the initiative onto the field of play. Dedicate a match to Sport Integrity and involve captains and supporters in a commitment to fair play. Connect that moment with training for coaches or young players. Invite an athlete to speak to the next generation about the responsibilities that come with competition. Give girls and boys an opportunity to participate and be heard.
The Integrity Match with São Paulo FC and Liga Portugal’s Integrity Matchday have shown how sporting activity can carry this message directly to the people who follow and sustain the game. I invite other sports, clubs and communities to bring their own energy and imagination to this effort.
Off the field, put governance on the board’s agenda. Support a mentorship opportunity. Train staff on safeguarding and the prevention of competition manipulation. Examine how a reform is working, or contribute expertise to an organisation that needs it. Use the skills and relationships you already have to open a possibility for someone else.
An activity already planned can become part of Sport Integrity Action Month. Give it a clear integrity objective, register it and invite others to contribute. Begin with something you can deliver well. Then share what you learn, so that your initiative can become the starting point for another.
LEADERSHIP THAT OTHERS CAN TRUST
We have the knowledge and tools to help organisations take the next step. Through SIGA’s Football Integrity Forum and FITS Forums, we have brought Sport, public authorities and business together to examine governance, financial integrity and the responsibilities surrounding investment. Our Sport Integrity Forums in Latin America have connected regional experience with international expertise.
Through the Summits on Female Leadership in Sport and the SIGAWomen Global Mentorship Programme, we have coupled the case for gender equality with opportunities for aspiring leaders to learn and develop. Mentorship gives a future leader someone to learn from and someone prepared to support her progress. Our cooperation with CBF Academy brings football governance and compliance into professional education.
The Integrity Line, our Linha da Frente column in Record, the Sport Integrity Journal and our media interventions carry these questions to wider audiences. I want more people to enter that discussion with evidence, experience and the confidence that their contribution can help shape a decision.
Every organisation that asks for trust should be prepared to show how it earns it.
For organisations ready to examine their own governance, the SIGA Universal Standards provide a common framework for improvement. A Gap Analysis identifies where work is needed. The SIGA Independent Rating and Verification System (SIRVS), assesses implementation. European Aquatics’ governance reforms and SIRVS certification show what it means to open progress to independent scrutiny. These instruments give leaders a practical way to turn a commitment into work that can be assessed.
During November, we will introduce our Game Changers: a new group of sports organisations adopting the SIGA Universal Standards, supporting diversity and submitting to independent assessment through SIRVS. I welcome their leadership. Their example will give others a practical route to follow, and I invite more organisations to take that step with us.
The standards we advocate apply to us too. SIGA has committed to independent assessment of its own governance. The duty to accept scrutiny is one we share with the organisations we seek to support.
HELP SHAPE THE STANDARDS THAT WILL SHAPE SPORT
A major landmark in November will be the announcement of two new sets of SIGA Universal Standards: on Social and Environmental Sustainability in Sport, and on Artificial Intelligence and Sport Integrity. We will invite the widest possible engagement in this work.
These subjects affect the conditions in which Sport takes place, the use of resources and data, and decisions that shape people’s opportunities. They concern the athlete whose career is affected, the community that sustains a club and the institutions deciding how technology will be used. The wider the consequences, the wider the conversation must be.
We will promote a wide public consultation on both subjects as part of SIGA’s decision-making process. I want to hear from those developing technology, conducting research, managing organisations and living with the consequences of change. Bring your evidence, your practical experience and the questions you believe need an answer. Help shape the standards that will guide the decisions ahead.
We will also announce the full composition of SIGA’s Permanent Committees and hold their inaugural meetings during the Month, bringing expertise into the work of implementation. SIGA Youth, SIGAWomen and the SIGA University Network will lead initiatives alongside other parts of our global community. Young people, women in Sport and academic institutions have their own perspectives to contribute. I want those voices to help drive this Month’s intensive programme of debate, research, education and action.
WHAT SPORT HONOURS HELPS SHAPE WHAT IT BECOMES
We will also launch the process for the next edition of the SIGA Sport Integrity Awards, building on the success of last year’s inaugural edition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Awards recognise leadership, innovation and practical achievements that advance Sport Integrity. They give positive examples a global audience and invite others to follow.
Among the inaugural recipients were Kirsty Coventry, Sport Leader of the Year, and Yousef Al Serkal, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award. European Aquatics, Tottenham Hotspur FC, Diario AS and Roc Nation Sports were recognised for their respective contributions to governance, sustainability and innovation, journalism and marketing.
UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 and the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 received Sport Event of the Year recognition, while the AFC Champions League 2024/25 received the SIGA ASIA event award.
We should celebrate these achievements with pride and make their lessons available to others. Recognition can give an aspiring leader a model to learn from, or an organisation the confidence to attempt a reform. Honouring the people advancing integrity helps give their work the public standing it deserves.
MISSION 100: COME AND BUILD WITH US
SIGA is an open, inclusive global coalition and a united front for Sport Integrity. We bring together Sport, governments, business, international organisations, academia and civil society. Our independence and neutrality create common ground for people with different responsibilities and perspectives to work together. There is room here for organisations ready to learn, improve and help others do the same.
Throughout November, we will intensify MISSION 100, our wider initiative to bring together 100 organisations capable of advancing Sport Integrity through their leadership, expertise and reach.
We will welcome new organisations into our global community as Members, partners and Committed Supporters. I want more organisations to take a lasting place in this work.
If your organisation shares this ambition, I want you with us. Become a SIGA Member. Explore a partnership that brings your strengths into a shared project. Join us as a Committed Supporter and help extend the work. Choose the contribution through which your organisation can make a lasting difference.
A coalition becomes powerful through what its participants make possible for one another. Your research may help a team responsible for implementation. Your organisation’s experience may help a peer avoid a mistake. Your expertise or resources may allow a worthwhile project to begin. In return, your people can learn from colleagues confronting similar challenges in other Sports and countries.
Bring your questions as well as your knowledge. Tell us where your organisation can contribute and where it wants to improve. Help build relationships that continue after an event has ended. This is a community with work to do and a future to shape. I invite you to help shape it.
Join SIGA as a Member, partner or Committed Supporter
LET NOVEMBER BEGIN SOMETHING THAT LASTS
To our existing Members and partners, and everyone already contributing, thank you. You give this movement its reach and its purpose. I ask you now to open the invitation to others. Engage your clubs, associations, researchers, students and business partners. Introduce this effort to the people whose experience could strengthen it.
I ask every participating organisation to invite at least one other organisation to join.
Make that invitation personal and specific. Tell them what you intend to do and where their contribution could help. Give them a role, a reason to take part and an opportunity to see the result. Then share what you achieve so that another organisation can find the confidence to begin.
In the previous edition of The Integrity Line, I called for reform programmes for 2030, with deadlines and independently verified results. November gives that ambition an immediate starting point. A first training session can lead to a continuing programme. A survey can inform a policy. A governance review can establish reforms whose implementation is independently assessed.
The commitments we make in November must still matter in December.
I want us to finish the Month able to point to what has improved, what has begun and what remains to be delivered. The partnerships formed, knowledge shared and responsibilities accepted should continue to serve the people who depend on Sport. That is how November’s energy can become progress that lasts.
The kickoff is 1 November. Choose the contribution you can make, register your initiative and bring another organisation with you. If you want to help sustain this work throughout the year, join our global community through MISSION 100. There is an opportunity here to put your commitment to Sport to work.
#SideWithSIGA, and bring others with you. Let us make the values that inspire us in Sport the standards we are prepared to live by. The change Sport needs starts with us.
Register your initiative for Sport Integrity Action Month 2026
Become part of SIGA’s Global Community
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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 ASIA, 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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