FSE & CSHR Launch Fans’ Human Rights Guide

Like all people associated with sport, the human rights of fans should be upheld, and governments and institutions across the sports ecosystem, such as event organising committees, have responsibilities to protect and respect them.

Promoting human rights is a job for everyone, and fans themselves also have responsibilities. Fans have a strong platform to contribute to sport being a safe place and force for good and should know their rights. Fans also play a critical role in raising expectations across sport to ensure sporting events are welcoming and inclusive, and avoid causing harm to workers, residents, players, or others in and around an event.

The Fans’ Human Rights Guide, developed by Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and the Centre for Sport and Human Rights (CSHR), has been produced to raise awareness of some of the human rights aspects connected with attending an international sporting event from a fan perspective. The intent of this document, which builds on the guide Games Time – Planning and Acting to Respect Human Rights in Mega-Sporting Events, is to contribute to actions that ensure both fans and organisers are prepared for a safe and positive experience that upholds personal dignity and promotes once in a life-time experiences that sport can offer.

This is an initial version to be further developed in consultation with fans’ groups and other stakeholders, and will be revised based fans’ experiences at future sporting events.

Please contact the CSHR if you have any accessibility issues and require a plain text version of the guide.

Related news

Olympics: Uphold human rights for all athletes

Olympics: Uphold human rights for all athletes

Requesting clarification on the IOC Working Group on Women’s Category The Sport & Rights Alliance has written to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding the IOC Working Group on the “protection of the female category” and potential decisions to implement mandatory sex testing and a blanket ban on transgender and intersex athletes in the women’s […]

READ MORE

Olympics: Sex Testing Harms All Women and Girls

Olympics: Sex Testing Harms All Women and Girls

International Olympic Committee has no right to become ‘gender police’ of the world (Amsterdam, March 17, 2026) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should abandon potential plans to mandate genetic sex testing and ban transgender and intersex athletes, the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA), ILGA World, Humans of Sport and over 100 other allied organizations […]

READ MORE

FIFA’s Ticketing Policy is Excluding Fans With Disabilities From the 2026 World Cup

FIFA’s Ticketing Policy is Excluding Fans With Disabilities From the 2026 World Cup

On 15 December, Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and its Disability & Inclusion Fan Network wrote to FIFA President Gianni Infantino to condemn FIFA’s accessible ticket pricing for the 2026 World Cup, which is effectively excluding supporters with disabilities from the tournament. FIFA has restricted accessibility tickets for National Team fans (PMA allocation) to Categories 1–3, […]

READ MORE

Related resources

Failures in Brazilian Football Expose Culture of Misogyny and Abuse

Failures in Brazilian Football Expose Culture of Misogyny and Abuse

Persistent risks for women and children in Brazilian sport (Sao Paulo, March 6, 2026) — Ahead of this year’s International Women’s Day, renewed attention must be paid to the persistent risks facing women and children in the world of sports. Nowhere is this more pertinent than in Brazil, set to host the 2027 FIFA Women’s […]

READ MORE

“This may be the most important story you will tell, and you want it done right”

“This may be the most important story you will tell, and you want it done right”

Workshop Recap: Media Training for Impacted Athletes: Sharing your story with journalists On September 24th, The Athletes Network for Safer Sports held its third workshop of the year focusing on “Media Training for Impacted Athletes.” Featuring top sports journalists with extensive experience covering abuse cases, Shireen Ahmed and Suzy Wrack, the session marked an important […]

READ MORE

Japan Acts to Protect Athletes from Abuse

Japan Acts to Protect Athletes from Abuse

Four Years Since Tokyo Olympics, Lawmakers Commit to Protecting Children Four years after hosting the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Japan is finally taking action to protect athletes from abuse in sport. This month, the Japanese National Diet passed a revision to the Basic Act on Sport (2011), requiring the national and local governments to adopt measures […]

READ MORE

Join the Network

Sport has the potential to be a catalyst for human development, unity, and freedom, but too often it instead brings harm to its athletes, fans, and communities. We exist to uncover and rectify the many abuses that exist both in and around sport. We aim to transform sports into an authentic force for good.