Not-for-profit European sport events

1.   Eligible countries: as described in the Call document.

EU Member States participate fully in all actions of the Erasmus+ Programme. In addition, in accordance with article 19 of the Erasmus+ Regulation, the following third countries are associated to the programme:

• members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) which are members of the European Economic Area (EEA): Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein;
• acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates: Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Turkey and Republic of Serbia;

The EU Member States and the above mentioned third countries associated to the programme will be hereafter called “EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme”. In addition, in accordance with article 20 of the Regulation, legal entities from third countries non-associated to the Programme can be eligible in Erasmus+ actions in duly justified cases and in the Union interest (hereafter called “third countries not associated to the Programme”).

2.   Eligibility and admissibility conditions: as described in the Call document.

Who can apply?

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities, if applicable) must:

- be legal entities (public or private bodies)

- be established in EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme.

- be active in the field of sport- a public body in charge of sport at local, regional or national level;

For example, such organisation can be (non-exhaustive list):

- a public body in charge of sport at local, regional or national level;

- a sport organisation at local, regional, national, European or international level;

- a National Olympic Committee or National Sport confederation;

- an organisation representing the 'sport for all' movement;

- an organisation active in the field of physical activity promotion;

- an organisation representing the active leisure sector;

- an organisation active in the field of education, training or youth.

Consortium composition 

A Not-for-profit European Sport Event is transnational and involves:

- For the European local event (Type I): involves between 3 and 5 organisations. Each organisation must come from different EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme.

- For the European local event (Type II): a minimum of 6 organisations coming from 6 different EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme

- For the European-wide event: a minimum of 10 organisations (1 single applicant + 9 participating organisations presented as associated partners) coming from 10 different EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme.

Eligible activities

- For the European local events (Type I and II) the activities must take place in each EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme involved in the Not-for-profit European Sport Event.

- For the European-wide event, the activities must take place in the country of establishment of the applicant organisation.

Duration of project

The duration must be chosen at application stage (projects should normally last 12 or 18 months), based on the objective of the project and on the type of activities foreseen over time. Extensions are possible, if duly justified and through an amendment.

ADMISSIBILITY CONDITIONS

Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications as indicated in the call.

The applications must be readable and accessible.

Applications must be complete containing all parts and mandatory annexes. Only clerical errors can be corrected after the submission deadline upon request of the managing agency for duly justified cases.

For actions managed by the Executive Agency, applications must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/home. Applications (including annexes and supporting documents) must be submitted using the forms provided in the Submission System.

Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents:

- Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)

- Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded)

- Application Form Part C (to be filled in directly online, if any) containing additional project data

- The Detailed Budget Table (to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded)

FUNDING RULES

The contributions for Not–for–profit European Sport Events take the form of lump sums. The amount of the fixed lump sum depends on the number of events and number of organisations involved in the project.

Applicants will choose between the 3 pre-defined amounts according to the number of events and number of organisations involved in the project.

- European local events (at least one event per country) Type I: from a minimum of organisations coming from 3 different EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme to a maximum of 5 organisations coming from 5 different EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme >> Fixed Lump-sum 200.000 EUR

- European local events (at least one event per country) Type II: a minimum of 6 organisations coming from 6 different EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme >> Fixed Lump-sum 300.000 EUR

- European-wide events: one event with at least 10 participating organisations from at least 10 EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme (including the applicant organisation) >> Fixed Lump-sum 450.000 EUR

a) For the European-local event (Type I): 200.000 EUR

Proposals concern multi-beneficiary projects in which all expenses must be covered by the Applicant and Partner organisations. The participant organisations identified (from 3 to 5) are considered co-beneficiaries and the events and the side activities organised will take place in each EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme involved.

Proposals shall include a specific section with the distribution of tasks and EU grant among partners. The timeline for implementation of each project activity and the deadline for the production of project deliverables shall be indicated as well.

Applicants must split the project activities in “work packages”. Each work package shall be linked to specific objectives, and applicants must identify a set of quantitative and qualitative indicators allowing to assess the level of achievement of those objectives.

b) For the European-local event (Type II): 300.000 EUR

Proposals concern multi-beneficiary projects in which all expenses must be covered by the Applicant and Partner organisations. The participant organisations identified (minimum 6) are considered co-beneficiaries and the events and the side activities organised will take place in each EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme involved.

Proposals shall include a specific section with the distribution of tasks and EU grant among partners. The timeline for implementation of each project activity and the deadline for the production of project deliverables shall be indicated as well.

Applicants must split the project activities in “work packages”. Each work package shall be linked to specific objectives, and applicants must identify a set of quantitative and qualitative indicators allowing to assess the level of achievement of those objectives.

c) For the European-wide event: 450.000 EUR

Proposals concern mono-beneficiary projects which means that all expenses must be covered by the Applicant organisation. For contractual management aspects, the participating organisation are not considered to be project partners. As associated partners, they do not receive any funding from the Programme as part of the project.

The timeline for implementation of each project activity and the deadline for the production of project deliverables shall be indicated.

Applicants must split the project activities in “work packages”. Each work package shall be linked to specific objectives, and applicants must identify a set of quantitative and qualitative indicators allowing to assess the level of achievement of those objectives.

3.   Evaluation

Evaluation criteria, scoring, threshold and process are described in the Call document.

Relevance of the project (maximum score 30 points) 

The extent to which:

- the proposal is relevant for objectives and priorities of the Action;

- the proposal is relevant for the respect and promotion of shared EU values, such as respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, as well as fighting any sort of discrimination.

- the proposal is based on a genuine and adequate needs analysis;

- the proposal is innovative;

- the proposal is complementary to other initiatives already carried out by the participating organisations;

- the proposal brings added value at EU level through results that would not be attained by activities carried out by a single country.

Quality of the project design and implementation (maximum score 20 points)

The extent to which:

- the project work plan is clear, complete and effective, including appropriate phases for preparation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and sharing project results;

- the project is cost-effective and allocates appropriate resources to each activity;

- the proposed methodology is clear, adequate and feasible;

- the project proposes relevant quality control measures to ensure that the project implementation is of high quality, completed in time and on budget;

- the project incorporates the use of digital tools and learning methods to complement their physical activities, and to improve the cooperation between partner organisations.

Quality of the partnership and the cooperation arrangements (maximum score 20 points)

The extent to which:

- the project involves an appropriate mix of participating organisations in terms of profile and expertise to successfully complete all project objectives;

- the proposed allocation tasks demonstrates the commitment and active contribution of all participating organisations;

- the proposal includes effective mechanisms for coordination and communication between the participating organisations, as well as with other relevant stakeholders

- if applicable, the extent to which the involvement of a participating organisation from a third country not associated to the Programme brings an added value to the project.

Impact (maximum score 30 points)

The extent to which:

- the project proposal includes concrete and logical steps to integrate the project results in the regular work of participating organisation;

- the project has the potential to positively impact its participants and participating organisations, as well as the wider community;

- the expected project results have the potential to be used outside the organisations participating in the project during and after the project lifetime, and at local, regional, national or European level;

- the project proposal includes appropriate plans and methods to evaluate the project outcomes;

- the project proposal includes concrete and effective steps to make the results of the project known within the participating organisations, to share the results with other organisations and the public, and to publicly acknowledge the European Union funding;

- the project proposal includes concrete and effective steps to ensure the sustainability of the project, its capacity to continue having an impact and producing results after the EU grant has been used up.

To be considered for funding, proposals must score at least 60 points. Furthermore, they must score at least half of the maximum score points in each of the categories of the award criteria mentioned above.

Ex-aequo proposals will be prioritised according to the scores they have been awarded for the award criterion ‘Relevance’. When these scores are equal, priority will be based on their scores for the criterion ‘Quality of the project design and implementation’. When these scores are equal, priority will be based on their scores for the criterion ‘Impact’.

If this does not allow to determine the priority, a further prioritisation can be done by considering the overall project portfolio and the creation of positive synergies between projects, or other factors related to the objectives of the call. These factors will be documented in the panel report.

4.   Indicative timetable for evaluation and grant agreement: 

Publication of the call:                                    28 November 2023

Deadline for submitting applications:             05 March  2023 17:00 (Brussels Time)

Indicative timeline for notification of the grant award decision and signature of the grant agreement:

The notification of the award decision will take place, indicatively, 6 months after the submission deadline and the signature of the grant agreement will take place, indicatively, 9 months from the submission deadline.