Ensuring compliance and sound governance for long term success in professional sport
Professional sport has a huge social impact
Standard management practices and rules are now required
To grow safely with Sportlyanz
Sport related organizations have a social (and sometimes political) impact on the society more than proportional to their size.
Self-regulation, some efforts in terms of ESG and sport specific regulations did not succeed so far to impede an increasing number of controversies and scandals.
We aim to provide a solid foundation for your business long-term growth, despite the inherent uncertainty of sports competition, and to better engage fans, sponsors, public authorities, and other societal stakeholders.
Our value proposition
Based on state-of-the-art practices and independence, Sportlyanz covers all areas of risks and provides the relevant recommendations :
supporting the entity for an holistic approach of its environment
capturing and monitoring all risks on a regular basis
measuring them against the values and objectives of the entity
proposing the ad-hoc mitigation strategy
Sportlyanz’ methodology of interventions and deliveries
1 - Self-Assessment & On-Site Audit: Start by conducting a thorough self-assessment of the processes, systems, and organization in place within your organization. This assessment is based on the exhaustive matrix provided by Sportlyanz on its dedicated platform which covers 10 main areas of controls (the so-called “pillars”).
Once the self-assessment is complete, Sportlyanz team of expert and independent consultants will carry out an on-site cross examination of its outcome in close collaboration with the entity and its key stakeholders. It will allow to verify the consistency of the self-assessment with the entity's management practices and results in a dedicated score card for the entity.
2 - Gap analysis & Contradictory Global Evaluation: Based on the findings from the self-assessment and on-site audit, Sportlyanz will conduct a gap analysis between the current state of the entity and the target state as wished by the entity's management. This analysis helps to pinpoint areas where improvements are needed and highlights discrepancies between actual performance and established standards of the overall business community.
With the gap analysis results in hand, a contradictory global evaluation will be made possible including for each "pilar" the strengths and weaknesses identified during the self-assessment, on-site audit, and gap analysis. This is a key step to foster transparency, understanding, and buy-in from all stakeholders such as senior management, department heads, and process owners, and to reach a consensus on the overall evaluation of the organization's performance.
3 - Mitigation Plan:
Based on the contradictory global evaluation, the entity shall then be required to develop an action plan to address the identified gaps and improve performance. The action plan should include specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives on short-, mid-, and long-term planning.
The management of the entity is expected to assign responsibilities, allocate resources, and establish timelines for implementing the action plan. It is also essential to involve the whole entity’s team in the development of the action plan to ensure their ownership and commitment to its successful execution.
Implementing our methodology and working with Sportlyanz on a continuous improvement process is the safest and most efficient way to meet stakeholders’ (fans, sponsors, media, public authorities) expectations regarding the governance of your entity … and to prepare for ever growing scrutiny and regulation.
We are convinced that it is also the path for growth and success for your organization.
Our recommendation is to apply the methodology on an ongoing basis (for instance yearly) as compliance is not a snapshot or one-time effort.
Sportlyanz is proposing a continuous improvement process, based on an initial diagnosis and a mitigation plan shared with the entity, which is structured in a 5 step approach:
4 - Implementation and Review: It is essential to involve the whole entity’s team in the development of the action plan to ensure their ownership and commitment to its successful execution. Together with entity's managers and staff, Sportlyanz shall monitor the progress, track the implementation of the planned actions, and regularly review the results. We should, as well, implement & follow up key performance indicators to assess the effectiveness of corrective actions.
5 - Net Assessment: After the mitigation plan has been implemented and sufficient time has passed, Sportlyanz will conduct a net assessment to evaluate the overall impact of the improvement efforts, comparing the post-implementation performance to the baseline established during the self-assessment and on-site audit.
This net assessment provides insights into the effectiveness of the continuous improvement process and informs future improvement initiatives.
Our score card criteria
Our clients
Professional leagues and federations: Organizations such as football, rugby, tennis... leagues and federations could benefit from implementing certification processes to ensure effective governance and risk reduction.
Governing bodies: International and national sports governing bodies like FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), International Olympic Committee (IOC), World Athletics, etc., could be interested in adopting certification processes to enhance governance and minimize risks in their respective sports.
Clubs and teams: Professional clubs and teams across various sports, including football, basketball, rugby, etc., could be potential customers for the certification process. They may value the implementation of best governance practices to enhance their operational efficiency and mitigate risks.
Sponsors: Private companies investing in sport to promote their brands and products thanks to its values or the public footprint of competitions and sport events .
Sports facility operators: Owners or managers of sports facilities, including stadiums, arenas, training centers, and sports complexes, may be interested in certifying their operations to improve governance, safety standards, and risk management practices.
Agencies and consultants: Consulting firms specializing in sports management, governance, and risk assessment could potentially offer certification services to sports organizations as part of their portfolio.
And other stakeholders: Public authorities, national and local governments as well as supra-national institutions supporting and funding sport entities. Private companies investing in sport, in entities and/or events, to promote their brands and products thanks to the values of sport and the public footprint of competitions and events.
Event organizers: Companies or individuals involved in organizing sports events, such as international tournaments, championships, and local competitions, can benefit from implementing certification processes to ensure fair play, transparency, and effective risk management.
Test out the self-assessment
Sylvain Bredin
Jérôme Champagne
Jean-Marc Eyssautier
25 years with Saint-Gobain, a Fortune 500 Global company
CEO and MD of several companies
Vice-President Sales & Marketing, International Development Director,
Expat in Yemen, Korea and Thailand (17 years in Asia)
Consultant in industrial cooperation
Diplomat for 15 years
FIFA senior officer for 11 years
Ligue 1 club executive manager during 4 seasons
Football consultant at international level since 2010
Central banker for 10 years
Various positions (CEO, Head of risk and compliance,….) in the banking industry for 20 years
CEO of a Fintech for 2 years
Consultant for the banking and financial industry
About us
Life long sport enthusiasts, as players and fans, we are sorry to see the current excesses of professional sport and convinced that applying proven methods in other economic sectors would be the best way of remedying them.
Contact us
Launch of a Certification Process for Improving the Governance of Sport Entities
Press release - February 6, 2024
