In recent years, the challenges facing sport — including sports integrity, the protection of sports data and rights, and the protection and sustainable return of the value generated by sport across borders — have become increasingly complex and common across sports and national borders. To address these challenges, stakeholders across the global sports ecosystem must go beyond the boundaries of individual countries, sports and organizations, share their knowledge and experience, and work together.
Against this backdrop, we officially launched the Global Sports Ecosystem Initiative (GSEI), an international platform that brings together sports governing bodies, professional sports leagues, international organizations, law enforcement agencies, experts and other stakeholders from around the world to share perspectives and discuss common challenges facing the global sports ecosystem, with the aim of fostering effective collaboration in the future.
The name GSEI emphasizes our vision of sport as a single ecosystem in which athletes, sports governing bodies, leagues, governments and international organizations, law enforcement agencies, businesses, experts and other stakeholders are interconnected. GSEI will foster dialogue, mutual learning and cooperation across national and continental boundaries to support the sustainable development of this ecosystem.
The Council for Sports Ecosystem Promotion (C-SEP) supports the activities of GSEI as its Secretariat.

As its first initiative, GSEI held its Kickoff Meeting in New York on September 22, 2026.
The Kickoff Meeting brought together representatives from 20 organizations and institutions across nine countries and regions — Japan, the United States, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Austria, Paraguay, Australia and Hong Kong — including individuals representing the Council of Europe, Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA), Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL), Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), and International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), with representatives of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Sport Integrity Australia (SIA), and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) participating as observers.
The participants represented sports governing bodies, professional sports leagues, international organizations, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders from around the world.

The Kickoff Meeting focused primarily on the following themes:

･Safeguarding sports integrity amid technological developments, including addressing risks such as competition manipulation and online abuse targeting athletes

･Preventing and addressing gambling addiction among athletes

･Sports data governance and the protection of sports rights

･Cross-border protection and the sustainable return of value generated by sport

Participants also shared experiences and challenges from different regions and sports and exchanged views on the need for continued international dialogue on these issues and the potential for effective future collaboration.
Participants also recognized the important contribution of the Council of Europe’s Macolin Convention to international cooperation in protecting the integrity of sport and combating the manipulation of sports competitions.

GSEI will bring together stakeholders from different regions and sports and, while respecting their different positions and interests, connect knowledge and experience across the global sports ecosystem, identify common challenges, and explore priority areas for future work and opportunities for concrete collaboration. Through such dialogue and collaboration, GSEI aims to help build a global sports ecosystem that transcends national and organizational boundaries, while enhancing the value of sport as a whole and supporting its sustainable development.

GSEI Founder
Hironori Inagaki
Representative Director, Council for Sports Ecosystem Promotion / Attorney-at-Law