Who is EDSO

About EDSO

The European Deaf Sport Organisation is the governing body for deaf sport in Europe — founded on 7 July 1983 in Antibes, France, so that deaf athletes across the continent would have championships that could be planned, financed and counted on.

Founded 7 July 1983 · Antibes, France
43
Years
46
Member federations
32
Sports
22
Events on record
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What is EDSO?

The European Deaf Sport Organisation (EDSO) is the organisation that governs deaf sport in Europe. Its members are the national deaf sport federations of the European countries, and its work is to run the European Championships, the European Deaf Games and the European Deaf Youth Games, and to keep the rules, the calendar and the eligibility of deaf sport the same from one country to the next.

EDSO is the European regional confederation of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD), the world body that also runs the Deaflympics. A European country that is a member of ICSD is a member of EDSO and may take part in every European Championship EDSO organises.

Deaf sport is not adapted sport. The competition is the ordinary competition of each sport, played to the ordinary rules; what changes is that the starting gun, the whistle and the referee become visual, so that the athletes compete on equal terms with one another rather than with a signal they cannot hear.

Mission

To give deaf athletes in Europe regular, well-organised championships in every sport EDSO governs — planned years ahead so that federations can prepare and finance a team, and run to a standard that means the same thing in every host country.

Vision

A Europe in which a deaf athlete meets no barrier to competing at the highest level of their sport: an accessible pathway from a first club to a European title and on to the Deaflympics, and a place at the table for deaf people in the running of their own sport.

How EDSO came about

European Championships for deaf athletes already existed before EDSO, run under the world body of the day. With a worldwide remit it could not schedule Europe regularly, and some years brought six to ten championships — more than the European countries could finance.

Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany took the initiative, a preparatory committee was formed, and on 7 July 1983, in Antibes, France, the European Deaf Sport Organisation was founded with nine countries present. Hendrik J. de Haas (NED) was its first President.

What EDSO does

  • European Championships in each of the sports EDSO governs, on a fixed cycle so federations can plan and finance a team.
  • The European Deaf Games and the European Deaf Youth Games, the multi-sport editions that bring the whole continent together.
  • Rules, regulations and technical standards, so that a championship means the same thing in every host country.
  • Eligibility and anti-doping, applied to the ICSD rules — the audiogram that establishes hearing loss, and the anti-doping regulations that apply to every competitor.
  • Hosting: EDSO awards championships to the federations that bid for them and supports the organising committee through to the closing ceremony.

How EDSO is run

The General Assembly — the member federations meeting together — is the supreme body: it elects the Executive Committee, decides the constitution and votes on what the organisation does. Between assemblies the Executive Committee runs EDSO.

Each sport has a Sports Director responsible for its championships and its technical rules, and the Commissions carry the work that runs across every sport. Every one of them is named on this site, with the office they hold.

Who may compete

An athlete is eligible for EDSO competition with a hearing loss of at least 55 dB in the better ear, established by an audiogram held on file, and must be a member of the national deaf sport federation entering them.

Hearing aids, cochlear implants and any other amplification may not be used while competing. It is the one rule that makes the result a fair one: every athlete on the field is working from what they can see.

Membership

EDSO's members are national deaf sport federations, one per country. A European federation that is a member of ICSD is a member of EDSO and has the right to enter every European Championship it organises.

Every member federation has a page on this site with its officers and its contact details.

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Read on

History of EDSO

The founding, in full →

Executive Committee

Who runs EDSO today →

Member Federations

Every country in EDSO →

General Assembly

Where EDSO decides →