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Sports federation
Definition
A sports federation is a union of sports associations (governed by the Law of 1901), the purpose of which is to bring together the affiliated sports groups and licenced players, with the aim of organising the sport, notably through competitions. The federations may be accredited by the Ministry: the law acknowledges that they have a public service mission. Some of them are delegated to organise the practice of a sports discipline. They sign a permanent contract with the State authorising the organisation of competitions.
There are several types of federations :
- Single-sport federations organise a single discipline (such as the French Volleyball Federation, for example). They are qualified as "Olympic" if their sport is included in the Olympic Games (gymnastics, for example) ;
Otherwise, they are considered as being non-Olympic (dance, for example) ;
- Multisport federations are for different sports, the rules of which are governed by the single-sport federations. An example is the National School Sports Union (UNSS) ;
- "Peer" federations have as their priority the practice of all sports and multi-activities, according to the various human affinities as a whole (for example, the French Lay Union for Physical Education).
The sports federations are responsible for organising and promoting their respective disciplines. Articles L.131-8 and L.131-14 of the Sports Code make the distinction between those federations that have been accredited by the State and those to which the State has also delegated its powers.
Note
Source : mission des Études, de l'Observation et des Statistiques (MEOS) au ministère en charge des sports (site : http://www.jeunesse-sports.gouv.fr, rubrique "statistiques")
