Causes of dysfunction in the global sports governance model

The article presents materials related to the analysis of the causes for management dysfunctions in modern sports and further prospects for the development of sports in a changing world order. Paradoxically, the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine and the subsequent reaction of sports officials of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and international sports federations (IFS) made it possible to really look at the existing models of management of individual sports and the entire Olympic system from an applied aspect.Governance and power in sport is viewed through the lens of theories of symbolic capital, critical realism, dominance theory and the three-level dimension of power in sport.In the analytical part, the focus is on the fact that international sport does not adhere to a unitary or federal model of governance, but corresponds to the principles of a polycentric management system, since power in sport is asymmetrical and dispersed across separately established bodies with overlapping jurisdictions, which are not always in a hierarchical relationship with each other. That is why IOC President Thomas Bach made recommendations to remove Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions, cancel competitions on the territory of these countries and ban Russian and Belarusian state symbols. The IOC leadership has no other management levers to make decisions.The author identified that dysfunctions in the management model led to the dependence of the Olympic movement on American capital and unfair distribution of income; creating a trend towards the development of regional sports projects and the formation of a new geopolitical economy of sports.Â