France: Organisation of sport and policy towards sport federations

Abstract

Sport policy in France is founded on two principles: the delegation of sport management by the State to sport associations; and solidarity between professional and grassroots sport within the sport federations (Vie Publique, 2008). Each national sport federation organises and promotes the practice of its sporting discipline. It may receive public financial support subject to producing a shared assessment of the past Olympic period, and a four-year strategy outlining the future orientation, priorities and revenue allocation schemes of the federation (conventions of objectives; MSJEPVA, n.d.). The results are reviewed annually. The framework for their evaluation is the Programme ‘Sport’ defined by the Ministry of Sports.