TAFISA Represented at the EU-CoE Sport For All Joint Project Launch

On 15 May, the Council of Europe (CoE) hosted a launch event for its joint new project “Sport For All: Promoting Inclusion and Combating Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities.” The event brought together representatives from 41 member states of the Council of Europe’s Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) and 30 sports organisations. The event was opened by the Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law at the Council of Europe, Gianluca Esposito, the Deputy Director-General of DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture at the European Commission, Normunds Popēns, the Chair of the EPAS Governing Board, Alexandre Husting, and the Chair of the EPAS Consultative Committee, Charlotte Girard-Fabre.

In his opening words, Gianluca Esposito talked about the necessity for inclusion through sport: “Not just Sport but the role of sport in making a difference when it comes to building a world where everyone can feel included”.

TAFISA was represented by Project Manager Osazemen Aghedo on the Best Practices at the International Level panel spotlighting TAFISA’s work in social inclusion and capacity building.

The Sport For All project (March 2025 - August 2026) aims to address disproportional discrimination, exclusion, and limited access to sports due to social and systemic obstacles that people with physical, sensory, intellectual, and psychosocial disabilities face. Other barriers include discrimination online, including hate speech and cyberbullying, which further discourages their participation.

To meet these challenges, high-level athletes Arnaud Assoumani, Gizem Girişmen, and Yaroslav Denysenko shared their experiences, and speakers debated the empowerment of sports organisations from grassroots to elite levels and best practice examples at the international level.

Prior to the conference, participants took part in a training session of blind football on the lawn of the Council of Europe.

Read more about the Sport for All joint project here.