SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Karl Ole Möller, Nordia Law
ing sport in Sweden on its own, but with the help of financial support from the state and local authorities. For historical reasons, all sports are organised through voluntary non-profit associa - tions. The right to participate in clubs and socie - ties is guaranteed by the Swedish Constitution. Only non-profit associations can be members of the Sports Confederation. All local sport clubs are organised as non-profit associations with the purpose of organising sports activities, having both professional teams and sport for all within the same organisation. The Sports Confederation supports its members and represents the entire sports movement in contacts with the government, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, where it negotiated several financial compensation packages for its members due to the losses caused by the pandemic. SISU Idrottsutbildarna is the Sports Confed - eration’s educational organisation. The Sports Confederation and SISU Idrottsutbildarna have different roles but complement and support each other in the daily work of developing sports in Sweden. The clubs are organised according to two prin - ciples: one geographical and one linked to the specific sport. The geographical organisation takes the form of district sports federations while particular sports are organised in special district sports federations and special sports federations. The Sports Confederation has its own judicial system, with the Supreme Sports Tribunal its final instance body. The Supreme Sports Tribu - nal deals with appeals against legal decisions handed down by the special sports federations.
A sport club must hold a specific participating (sporting) licence with its special sports federa - tion. However, the clubs may transfer its rights under the licence to a limited liability company, on the condition that the club is the majority owner of the shares/voting rights in the limited liability company (the “51% rule” ). The limited liability company is prohibited from transferring the sporting rights to a third party. Many sports clubs with professional teams, for instance, within football and ice hockey, have used this opportunity to attract financial investors from private business. There are currently only two football clubs that are publicly listed on the stock exchange: Hammarby IF and AIK Fotboll . The ice hockey clubs AIK Hockey and Djurgården Hock - ey have also raised capital through the Pepins trading platform. All Olympics-related matters are handled by the Swedish Olympic Committee. The Committee consists of 38 member federations, the national sports federations for the Olympic sports and 18 recognised federations (ie, recognised by the International Olympic Committee, but not cur - rently on the Olympic programme). 4.2 Corporate Governance Swedish law does not provide for specific cor - porate governance codes within sports. How - ever, sport governance is a growing concern among stakeholders, not least due to the sig - nificant commercialisation of sports over recent decades. Professional teams organised within a limited liability company need to comply with the pro - visions of the Swedish Companies Act. Listed limited liability companies are subject to specific rules regarding corporate governance, such as the Swedish Corporate Governance Code. The
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