Why This Consultation Matters
Sport plays a powerful role in the lives of millions of Europeans. It shapes norms, teaches values, builds community, and is celebrated as a driver of health and wellbeing. Yet across Europe, sports environments commonly expose children and families to pervasive alcohol marketing and sponsorship.
Sports environments are all too often risk instead of protective factors when it comes to alcohol harm.
While the European Sport Model aspires to promote health, inclusion, and fairness, existing EU policy frameworks – including the 2007 White Paper on Sport – do not address alcohol sponsorship, advertising and promotion, or alcohol availability in sports settings. This silence has allowed the alcohol industry to penetrate sport at every level: from elite competitions such as the UEFA EUROs, the Rugby Championship, and the Olympic Games, all the way to youth football clubs where children wear alcohol branding on their backs.
Commercial pressure is recognised as a threat to European sport. But alcohol – the single most common unhealthy commodity sponsor in European sport – is still not named, monitored, or addressed as risk factor.
This European Commission consultation is an important opportunity to change that.
The Problem: Sport Has Become Major Risk Factor for Alcohol Harm
Movendi International’s submission documents how sport is now one of the most powerful channels for alcohol marketing worldwide. Key evidence shows:
- Alcohol marketing causes youth alcohol use, including earlier onset and high-risk consumption. Sports sponsorship is one of the strongest exposure pathways.
- Children are exposed during live play, broadcasts, and digital content, including through alibi marketing and zero-alcohol brand extensions.
- Elite sport drives harmful norms, with alcohol companies spending millions to saturate events such as the Super Bowl, Rugby World Cup, NBA, NFL, and the FIFA World Cup.
- Clubs and competitions depend financially on alcohol sponsorship, creating conflicts of interest and undermining sport’s health and educational missions.
- Athletes, health experts, and communities are increasingly pushing back, from Cristiano Ronaldo at EURO 2020 to public health bodies in Scotland, the Netherlands, Australia, and beyond.
Movendi International’s Big Alcohol Exposed 2024 report shows clearly: “hijacking sport” has become a core global strategy for Big Alcohol to build political capital, normalise alcohol use, and target young people.
Movendi’s Key Messages to the European Commission
Movendi International’s submission outlines a clear, evidence-based path to transform sport from a risk factor into a protective factor for children and communities.
The key messages are:
1. Name alcohol as a major commercial determinant of harm in sport
Alcohol marketing and sponsorship must be explicitly recognised in the European Sport Model as threats to health, integrity, and child rights.
2. Phase out alcohol sponsorship and harmful marketing in sport
This includes:
- Alcohol logos on jerseys and stadiums,
- Naming rights deals,
- Advertising during events, and
- Zero-alcohol brand extensions used as alibi marketing.
Youth and children have a right to play sports in alcohol-free environments.
3. Protect children’s rights and wellbeing in all sport environments
Children should not be turned into targets of alcohol marketing. And sports should avoid helping the alcohol industry reaching children, youth, and others. All sports spaces frequented by children – including clubhouses, stands, and fan zones – should be free from alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion.
4. Strengthen governance through conflict-of-interest rules
Good governance must include independence from health harming commodity industries. The European Sport Model should encourage sport bodies to adopt clear conflict-of-interest policies.
5. Support healthy and sustainable financing models
Sport does not need alcohol industry money. The European Sport Model can champion financing mechanisms that align with health, fairness, and human capital development, ensuring clubs can thrive without health harming sponsorships.
6. Align with WHO and UN standards
The recommendations align fully with:
- WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022–2030,
- WHO technical guidance on regulating cross-border alcohol marketing,
- The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and
- The EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child.
Why This Is About More Than Sport
Sport is a microcosm of society. It reflects what we value, the behaviours we normalise, and the futures we imagine for our children and societies.
Europe has the opportunity and responsibility to ensure that sport environments promote health, not harm; wellbeing, not commercial exploitation; fairness, not corporate profits.
By addressing alcohol as a harmful commercial determinant in sport, the European Sport Model can become a global leader in safeguarding child rights, promoting healthy and inclusive environments, and prioritising community wellbeing
Movendi International’s Commitment
Movendi International will continue to work with partners across Europe and globally to protect children and communities from alcohol harm in all settings – including sport. This work is about turning risk into protective factors and using evidence-based approaches to create enabling, inclusive, and fair environments for everyone.
Movendi International encourages civil society, parents, sports bodies, and policymakers to join the call for a sport model that reflects people’s concerns and shared values of health, fairness, and child development.