Switzerland Remains Centre Of Global Sport For Now

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Switzerland remains a paradise for international sporting associations despite an unhealthy dose of turmoil during the last decade. This content was published on March 23, 2025 - 10:15 6 minutes

I write about the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence technology and its possible impacts on society. Originally from England, I spent some time at the BBC in London before moving to Switzerland to join SWI swissinfo.

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Around 60 sports federations, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and world football authority FIFA, have set up their headquarters in the Alpine state. They are attracted by favourable legal and tax treatment and Switzerland's reputation for neutrality.

In many ways, they are cousins to several other non-governmental organisations, such as the United Nations departments and the International Committee of the Red Cross who display their neutrality in Switzerland.

But the road has sometimes been bumpy in pristine Switzerland. Both the IOC and FIFA were forced to clean up their acts in the wake of corruption scandals involving kickbacks in the awarding of major events to different countries.

+ Why Switzerland remains at the heart of corruption in sport

“Not only the integrity of sport is at stake, but also the image of Switzerland as a country hosting a large number of international sports federations,” stated a Swiss sports ministry report in 2012.

These scandals forced Switzerland to tighten laws that now regard high-ranking sporting officials as 'politically exposed persons' (PEPs).

The reverberations are still being felt with the former bosses of FIFA and the European football authority UEFA still in the glare of a long-running court case , accused of corruption.

The Swiss legal proceedings show that being the centre of global sport can result in negative side-effects.

Who is in the Swiss-hosted sports squad?

Switzerland's first signing, the IOC in 1915, remains the star player after all these years, according to Jean-Loup Chappelet, an expert on the management of sports organisations Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration at the University of Lausanne.

The Lausanne-based guardian of the Olympic spirit has attracted a host other sports bodies, from the International Fencing Federation to World Triathlon and European Aquatics.

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