EMCA Open Day 2026 brings the European multisport community together in Brussels
Brussels, 6 October 2026 – Members, sport organisations, European stakeholders, universities, experts and potential new partners came together in Brussels on 5 October for the EMCA Open Day 2026, turning the Association’s offices into a full-day meeting point for discussion, collaboration and the future of European multisport clubs.
With around 40 participants from across Europe, the Open Day was designed around three simple words: THINK. CREATE. BELONG.
Rather than organising another traditional conference, EMCA invited participants to take an active role throughout the day: discussing the challenges facing European sport, challenging new project ideas, identifying potential partnerships and exploring how the Association can create greater value through and for its members.
The morning session, THINK EUROPE – European Multisport Clubs Policy Lab, brought participants around working tables to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing sport today.
The discussions covered women in sport and sustainable sporting careers, grassroots funding and better use of sports facilities, children and schools, volunteering, digitalisation, inclusion, the social value of clubs and the future role of multisport organisations.
Despite starting from different topics, several common messages emerged.
Participants highlighted that sport is much more than competition and clubs are much more than places where people train. Clubs contribute to health, education, inclusion, volunteering, youth development and stronger communities, and this social value needs to become more visible and better recognised.
Another strong message was that sport should not remain isolated within sport policy. If sport is expected to contribute to health, education, inclusion and social cohesion, participants argued that its role should increasingly be reflected across European policies and funding instruments.
The discussions also highlighted the particular value of the multisport club model. By offering different sporting disciplines within the same ecosystem, multisport clubs can help children and adults remain physically active throughout different stages of their lives, even when their interests or circumstances change.
In the afternoon, CREATE EUROPE moved the conversation from challenges to solutions.
EMCA presented 18 initial Erasmus+ Sport concept notes for 2027, not as finished proposals, but as a starting point for co-creation with members and partners.
Participants worked directly on the ideas, challenged them, proposed new directions and explored where their own organisations could contribute. Importantly, the workshop already generated new combinations between concepts — including a proposal connecting dual careers, veteran athletes and volunteering — demonstrating exactly the collaborative approach EMCA wants to bring to the development of its future European projects.
EMCA will now consolidate the feedback and expressions of interest generated in Brussels, with the objective of identifying the strongest concepts and partnerships to move towards the next development stage.
The day also opened new discussions around innovation in sport, including EMCA’s participation in Sports Tech Nation in Munich on 1–2 December 2026, where the Association has been invited to bring a delegation of its members and engage with the sport innovation, technology and investment ecosystem.
For EMCA President Christina Tsiligkiri, the Open Day represented an important step in the Association’s evolution:
“We did not want people to come to Brussels simply to listen to presentations. We wanted them to speak, challenge us, bring their experience and create something together. EMCA does not belong to its President or its Board. It belongs to its members. Yesterday showed what can happen when we open the doors and give our network the space to work together.”
The Open Day also provided opportunities for new organisations to discover EMCA, for existing members to build new connections and for potential collaborations to emerge across countries and sectors.
The message at the end of the day was therefore the same as at the beginning:
THINK. CREATE. BELONG.
But after a full day of discussion and collaboration in Brussels, those three words had already started to become action.
European Multisport Club Association (EMCA)
Avenue des Arts 56, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
www.multisportclubs.eu
