SportAccord International Convention is a 6-day gathering of 1500 leading representatives from international sport. The annual convention is held in a different country each year and encompasses the Congress and General Assemblies of over 100 International Sports Federations (IFs) and their related Associations. These Federations hold the rights to scores of World Championships and other annual sporting events. SportAccord Convention's goal is to offer the international sports community an annual occasion to gather together in an exclusive and authoritative networking environment, to build relationships, expand horizons and broaden sport’s collective endeavours.
The event was created and owned by what was then known as the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) and the Association of International Olympic Winter Federations (AIOWF). The decision was recently taken to re-brand the GAISF organisation, coinciding with the start of a dynamic new organisational strategy, with the name changing to SportAccord. To make the distinction between the entities clear, the annual SportAccord event will be known as the SportAccord Convention and it will continue to be managed separately as before.
SportAccord International Convention was originally launched in 2003 in order for the Associations and the IFs to increase efficiency by holding all of their annual meetings at the same time and place, and also as a commercial platform whereby the sports industry could have 'one-stop-shop' access to all the world governing bodies and their key decision-makers. An Exhibition and a Conference were created in conjunction with the meetings, to encourage networking and facilitate understanding within the international sporting community. Since 2003, when SportAccord Convnetion first took place in Madrid, the event has been held in Lausanne, Berlin, Seoul, Beijing, Athens, Denver and Dubai, allowing attendees to experience the culture and hospitality of colleagues all over the world, and event-owners to visit cities and venues interested in hosting sporting events. Next year, SportAccord Conavention will take place in London from 3-8 April 2011.
SportAccord International Convention receives the full support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its President, who have agreed to organise the spring meetings of the IOC Executive Board at each convention to date. In addition to its Executive Board Meeting, the IOC also hold their annual joint meetings with Sportaccord (formerly GAISF), ASOIF and AIOWF during the annual gathering.
Over the past 8 years, SportAccord International Convention has become one of the key fixtures on the international sporting calendar. But the event itself has now evolved into a SportAccord Community…. a diverse group of people from across the sports spectrum, and from all over the world, who value this unique opportunity to learn, to grow, and most of all to share – not only their varied experiences, but the cumulative wealth of knowledge everyone brings with them to our annual gatherings.
SportAccord International Convention continues to develop additional offerings – such as SportAccord Convention TV, SportAccord - The Annual, City Forum, the Share Sport / The Daily event publication and the IF Forum, held in November – intended to be invaluable resources for everyone within the sports movement. For more information on these, and on plans for next year’s event in Dubai, please refer back to the home page of this website.  We look forward to seeing you soon at one of our events!
Board Members – Presidents of the founding Associations: Mr. Hein Verbruggen, President, SportAccord/GAISF & Chairman of Sportaccord International Convention Mr. Denis Oswald, President, ASOIF Mr. René Fasel, President, AIOWF Mr. Ron Froehlich, Vice President, SportAccord/GAISF
Steering Committee: Mr. Hein Verbruggen, President, SportAccord/GAISF & Chairman, of Sportaccord International Convention Mr. Ron Froehlich, Vice President, SportAccord/GAISF Mr. Andrew Ryan, Director, ASOIF Ms. Sarah Lewis, Secretary General, International Ski Federation & representing AIOWF Mrs. Anna Hellman, Executive Director, SportAccord International Convention