The Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union (Sport&EU) will host its 11th Annual Conference on 27-28 June 2016 in Madrid. The local organisers will be the Institute for European Studies and the Centre for Competition Policy of CEU San Pablo University.

The association would like to seize the occasion of this annual conference to look forward to the most pressing challenges for the study of sport in Europe, both widely defined. We want to focus our 2016 annual gathering towards the future. This should be an occasion to test new ideas, new approaches and to debate what should be done differently so our work contributes even more to the study of Europe and mainstream academic disciplines.

Against this backdrop, the association invites the submission of paper and panel proposals that address one or more of the main thematic topics identified:

• European identity and sport: What is the relationship between a feeling of Europeanness and sport? How does sport reflect current socio-cultural and political crisis in Europe? How can we increase our understanding of sport in Europe from different disciplines, such as history, sociology, anthropology or gender studies?

• Sport governance: The governance of international and European sport seems to be at a point of crisis. What are the main problems and how can these be solved? What role, if any, can European public authorities play in sport governance? From a more academic point of view, how can sports governance be better studied? Are current models valid and reliable? Also, what differences can be found in different countries in relation to governance structures?

• The commercialisation of sport, the single market and competition policy: In view of recent Commission investigations, is there a need for a further separation of sport governing bodies’ commercial and regulatory roles? Is competition policy being properly applied to the sports sector? Is the role of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in danger?

• Teaching sport and the EU: In an attempt to disseminate and debate best practice, we would welcome papers and panels that present innovative teaching approaches to our area of expertise. Papers in this area may take a more practical/best practice approach, although some pedagogical comments will be welcome.

Submission deadline: 31 January 2016.

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