The European Olympic Committees (EOC) EU Office celebrated 15 years since its official opening on 20 February 2024.

The EOC EU Office opened in 2009 at a time when the Lisbon Treaty had just given the EU explicit competence for sport. Since then, EU sport policy has developed and the office has grown significantly in its contribution to values-based European sport.

Today the EOC EU Office boasts 35 National Olympic Committee and Federation partners, has coordinated eight Erasmus+ Projects including: Athletes2Business, S4GG, SIGGS, POINTS, RINGS, GAMES, OCEAN, SIGGS 3.0. The Office has also supported many more sport organisations in their quest to access EU funding.

Another significant milestone was signing an Agreement for Cooperation with the European Commission in 2022.

Head of the EOC EU Office Folker Hellmund remarked on the significant contribution to European Sport the Office has made in the past 15 years.

He said: “I am exceptionally proud of the progress and contribution the EOC EU Office has made to European Sport. The Office will continue representing the voice of the organised sport movement in Brussels; enhancing sport organisations’ capacity to access EU funding; and coordinating European projects to support NOCs and Federations in improving gender equality, integrity, sustainability and good governance generally.

“As we celebrate this milestone, we express gratitude to all our partner sport organisations and political stakeholders for an excellent cooperation. And of course, we would not be where we are today without such competent and motivated staff members over all these years!”