Safeguarding has become one of the defining governance and welfare challenges facing modern sport. Across the international sport ecosystem, organisations increasingly recognise that stakeholders welfare, safe environments, and effective safeguarding systems are no longer optional considerations, but fundamental institutional responsibilities.

The release of the 2026 Global Safeguarding in Sport Survey now provides one of the most comprehensive international assessments conducted to date into how safeguarding is being implemented across sport organisations worldwide.

Led by IGNITX in partnership with Safe Sport International and Re.Events, the initiative gathered responses from International Federations (IFs), National Olympic Committees (NOCs)/ National Sport Organisations (NSOs), and National Federations (NFs) across all five continents, creating a unique global snapshot of safeguarding maturity across the sector.

While the findings demonstrate that safeguarding is now widely present across global sport organisations, the report also highlights an important reality: operational safeguarding maturity remains uneven.

Daniela Negreda, Managing Partner of IGNITX and principal author of the report, highlighted the importance of understanding safeguarding as an operational governance function rather than solely a policy exercise:

One of the clearest findings emerging from the survey is that the operational safeguarding pathway narrows significantly as organisations move from policy development towards operational implementation.

Approximately 70% of responding organisations reported having safeguarding mechanisms in place. However, substantially fewer organisations maintained the operational systems required to manage safeguarding concerns through reporting, investigation, and adjudication processes.

The results suggest that the global sport sector has moved beyond questioning the importance of safeguarding itself. Instead, the challenge increasingly lies in building the operational capacity required to implement safeguarding consistently and effectively.

Contrary to assumptions that safeguarding resistance may primarily stem from cultural or ideological opposition, the survey data indicate that the greatest barriers to safeguarding implementation are predominantly operational.

Across organisation types and regions, respondents consistently identified challenges related to financial & human resources, access to expertise and operational capacity.

At the same time, organisations globally demonstrated strong willingness to continue strengthening safeguarding systems in the future, including many organisations that do not yet have formal safeguarding structures in place.

The 2026 Global Safeguarding in Sport Survey was developed through a collaborative partnership between IGNITX, Safe Sport International and Re.Events.

The survey was conducted between 17 March and 10 April 2026 through three anonymous online questionnaires by organisation type.

The final dataset, which comprises 83 countries, included:

All responses were collected anonymously and analysed in aggregated form to support openness, confidentiality, and comparability across the sector.

Data processing and analytical dashboard development were conducted by Re.Events, while the analytical framework and report development were led by IGNITX and validation supported by Safe Sport International.

The results were officially launched on 25 May 2026 and were presented live during the Safe Sport International Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, from 25 to 27 May 2026.

The initiative aims to contribute to a stronger global understanding of safeguarding implementation in sport and to support organisations in moving from policy development towards sustainable operational safeguarding systems.

According to Neal Anderson, CEO of Safe Sport International, the significance of the report extends beyond benchmarking alone: