8th IPACS Annual General Conference highlights and follow-up action
The 8th Annual General Conference of the International Partnership against Corruption in Sport (IPACS), held in a hybrid format at Olympic House in Lausanne on 23 October 2025, brought together more than 130 participants representing governments, intergovernmental organisations, sports organisations and other members of the IPACS community. The high turnout reflected the partnership’s growth in the past year, with the number of IPACS partners increasing by 43 per cent – from 51 to 73 – in only 12 months.
Conference highlights
A key part of the conference was the launch of the Sport Governance Benchmark and Guidelines Handbook. Attendees heard from a panel of experts about how the Handbook – a new, accessible tool for sports organisations – is designed to support the implementation of the Benchmark’s 50 recommendations. English, French and Spanish versions of the Handbook are now available in the Good Governance section of the IPACS tools library.
Participants also provided suggestions concerning future IPACS activities and voted on their preferred options. Discover more details here.
Following up on the Conference outcomes
Momentum from the Conference quickly shifted into planning mode, as the IPACS Steering Committee convened for its fifth meeting of the year on 19 November. With 2026 approaching, members focused on future capacity-building activities and determining the direction of the IPACS AI Working Group. The full minutes from the meeting are available here on ipacs.sport.
Roll-out of the Handbook
A high priority will also be the strategic roll-out of the new Sport Governance Benchmark and Guidelines Handbook. To this end, the Good Governance Task Force – after two drafting sessions earlier this year – met for a third time to concentrate exclusively on roll-out. The objective is clear: ensure that the Handbook becomes an active reference tool, used by sports organisations to drive measurable standards of transparency and accountability.
2026 roadmap
A provisional plan for the partnership’s activities next year has already been developed and is available on the IPACS website.