The Global Alliance for the Integrity in Sport (SIGA, for its acronym in English) has reiterated this Friday in London its commitment in the need to reform democracy, transparency and financial integrity in world of sports.
At a briefing in the British capital, SIGA, a coalition created in November last year and has the support and backing of more than 70 organizations and members of the sports and financial industry, it has announced the development of a draft in which they have collected “a set of universal principles of integrity that apply in sport”.
The meeting, which forms part of the initiatives of the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), was chaired by the executive director of the latter, Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, and Simon Greenberg, director of Dow Jones Sport.
“We are members of an alliance that continues to grow, an alliance that has no political agenda nor commercial purposes and that all who seek to promote the sport and help,” said Medeiros.
“We know what the current reality and what the existing problems are, and we are committed to helping the sports industry to regain its place, its social and economic role. We are facing an unprecedented crisis in the world of sport” the Portuguese continued.
“We are a coalition of over 70 organizations in the world of sport, politics, society and the financial sector. We need to address these problems together. SIGA is a reliable solution, a coalition that is serious. And we are sure that sport will embrace this opportunity, ” said Medeiros.
The SIGA, yes, has distanced itself from the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) and has stated that this is not their “territory” and that doping “is not part” of their agenda, while reiterated that they are a “totally independent” coalition.
“The doping is an issue of WADA, it is not our territory. It is certain that it is tremendously important, but is not part of our agenda,” said Medeiros.
“We have no government commitments. We are totally independent and how we act is public. Of course, we will accept funding from governments, as long as there is no commitment involved,” he added.
The organizations that have shown their support for SIGA since its inception in November 2015, are La Liga, Qatar Airways, Dow Jones, the Sports Council of Spain (CSD), the Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) MasterCard, Deloitte, PwC, The World Bank and British Swimming, among others.
