Creating a sports association: What are the steps involved?

A sports association is a group of volunteers gathered around a common project or sharing activities, but without seeking to make profits.

Freedom of association has been guaranteed since the law of July 1, 1901, known as the "Waldeck-Rousseau" law. In France, there are nearly 300,000 sports associations, of which 180,000 are affiliated with the National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF).

Creating a sports association is simple: you need to be at least two people and define its purpose. It must have articles of association to clarify this purpose, its governing bodies, and the person authorized to represent or commit the association to third parties.

Finally, it has a registered office. The registered office of an association corresponds to the physical address where its administrative body is located, where meetings of the board of directors and general assembly are held, and where the archives are stored. This address must also be mentioned on your official documents, institutional and administrative communications.

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What are the different types of sports associations?

Association founders can choose between three distinct statuses. The most commonly used is undoubtedly the '1901 law' association. This status requires a declaration to the administrative authorities to receive private or public donations as well as membership fees.

This is also essential for buying premises to administer the association and any buildings strictly necessary to achieve its goals. You can set up an "unofficial" association without any official declaration.

If it involves hiring staff (coach, trainer, secretaries, etc.), organizing a competition or supervising a sporting event, it is necessary to apply for affiliation to a sports federation.

You'll need to meet the federation's membership criteria to get their approval.

Finally, the law also allows you to create a sports company, whether it's a professional club or for organizing certain sporting events. Most often, they adopt the status of EUSRL (Single-person sports limited liability company), SARL, EURL, SASP (Professional sports public limited company) or SAOS (Sports-oriented public limited company).

How to obtain Youth and Sport approval?

Sports associations can obtain ministerial approval as a « Youth and Sport » after 3 years of existence.

To do this, it must include certain statutory provisions guaranteeing the democratic operation of the association, the transparency of its management and equal access for women and men to its governing bodies. Since 2015, affiliation to a sports federation is equivalent to approval.

It allows the sports association to:

• Get social security contribution relief for employees.
• Get discounts on SACEM fees.
• To own a drinks license within the sports complex for 10 events
• Provide families who receive the back-to-school allowance with a sports voucher
• Get subsidies from the National Center for Sports Development (CNDS).

What are the formalities required to create an association?

The founding members of an association must download and complete a preliminary declaration of association creation, and send it to the prefecture of the department where your association's headquarters are located.

Every association needs to have its own set of articles of association.

They must specify the name of the sports association, its purpose, its directors, its internal organization, the procedures for election, membership, dissolution, voting in ordinary general meetings, and the resources of the sports association.

You'll also need to open a dedicated bank account in your association's name, take out a civil liability contract, and get specific insurance for sports activities.

Why choose a domiciliation service for your sports association?

Domiciliation companies allow each association to benefit from several key day-to-day services. First off, you can choose your registered office from a wide range of prestigious and valuable addresses.

Also, domiciliation companies simplify the lives of association managers by offering services that are useful on a daily basis: daily mail management, telephone switchboard, administrative and legal assistance, meeting room rental, etc.

It's the perfect alternative to using a director's home address or renting space for an association.

It's best to choose a stable registered address to ensure your business activities can continue smoothly.

With SeDomicilier, you can obtain your certificate of domiciliation in less than 5 minutes, in a 100% online process. What's more, all your services are then available in a personalized, secure virtual office!