About ENGSO

In the early sixties the national umbrella sports organisations of Western European countries set up the so-called NGO Club as a discussion forum. It met twice a year in order to join forces and define common sport political positions, when governments had also started to deliberate on sports matters in Council of Europe.

There was a clear need for such a kind of cooperation since the sport committees of socialist countries in Eastern Europe also held regular meetings to discuss common sport political issues in preparation of European Sports Conferences.

In 1990 the NGO Club changed its name to ENGSO - European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation. In 1995 it was felt necessary to formalise ENGSO by adopting official statutes which include the holding of General Assemblies and the election of an Executive Committee.

In this way, ENGSO not only strengthened its status as a partner for the defence of general sports interests at a European level, especially vis-à-vis political and administrative bodies of the European Union .

But it also became a bridge building organisation for East-West cooperation in sports when, after the political changes in Eastern and Central Europe, membership increased and ENGSO thus became a true Pan-European sports organisation. ENGSO is today the only European sports organisation having been granted consultative status by the Council of Europe.

European National Sports Confederations and National Olympic Committees, if they are the national umbrella organisations for sports, form the association "European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation" (ENGSO) which is a non-profit making or distributing organisation with public responsibilities.
Based on proposal of the ENGSO ExCom and the decision of the Extraordinary General Assembly held in Malta, May 5-7, 2006, ENGSO has been registered within the National Olympic and Sports Committee of France in the House of Olympic Sports, Paris, France. This decision has become legally valid following the Declaration of Association, issued by the Prefecture of Paris on June 28, 2006.