September 2023

On September 7th, 2023 at the City Hall of Brussels, Belgium, the President of the European Fair Play Movement,  Mr. Philippe Housiaux, welcomed public representatives, delegated of international associations, and personalities to celebrate the World Fair Play Day 2023 dedicated to “Peace Through Sport”.

In particular, the European Fair Play Movement created the prestigious “Sport for Peace Award”, assigning the first edition to Mrs. Berit Reiss-Andersen and the Norwegian Committee for the Nobel Peace Prize for creating the conditions to achieve lasting peace in the world. Furthermore, to support the aim that fair play is an everyday commitment, the Fair Play Calendar has been introduced, which encompasses 365 practical examples from sport to education and general citizenship.

This year, also the “International Fair Play Passport” has been introduced to promote both the Olympic values and the values in all sports regardless of different national identities. This award has been developed in collaboration with Olympic Academies of Italy (AONI) and Greece (HOA), under the auspices of the International Fair Play Committee, the European Fair Play Movement, and the Italian National Fair Play Committee, the Italian (CONI) and the Hellenic Olympic Committees, and the National Platform for Sport lntegrity, to be assigned to events and programmes encouraging the development of Olympic values, combatting deception, physical and verbal abuse/violence, exploitation, excessive commercialization and corruption.

Celebrated in 180 countries worldwide the 4th edition of World Fair Play Day in Brussels demonstrated the power of Fair Play also through artistic expression, encompassing special artistic “A Violin For Peace” performance by the Ukrainian violinist, Myroslava Kotorovyck, and a quartet from the Chamber Orchestra of Huy, orchestrated by Belgian composer Luc Baiwir. Furthermore, an artistic dance performance by the Norwegian dancer Selina Jappee, and choreographed by the International Dance Organization (IDO) marked the celebration of World Fair Play Day.