01 Proposal · Page Limits and Layout Proposals are limited to a maximum of 70 pages for Part B (technical description). Evaluators will not consider any additional pages. Shorter proposals are welcome. The proposal must be readable, accessible and printable. Excess pages will be automatically made invisible and will not be taken into consideration by evaluators. Specific page limits and layout requirements are described in the Application Form Part B available in the Submission System.
02 Eligible · Countries for Participation Eligible participants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must be established in EU Member States, including overseas countries and territories (OCTs). International organisations are also eligible and the rules on eligible countries do not apply to them. Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register before submitting the proposal and will be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation). For validation, they will be requested to upload documents showing legal status and origin.
03 Other · Eligibility Conditions Applicants must be legal entities (public or private bodies). Natural persons are NOT eligible except self-employed persons (sole traders) where the company does not have legal personality separate from the natural person. EU bodies (except European Commission Joint Research Centre) cannot be part of the consortium. Entities without legal personality may exceptionally participate if their representatives can undertake legal obligations and offer equivalent guarantees for EU financial interests. Entities subject to EU restrictive measures or EU conditionality measures are not eligible. The Coordinator must be an organisation active in the field of sport. Applications by single applicants and by consortia are allowed. Financial support to third parties is not allowed. Projects must comply with EU policy interests, priorities, values and European Commission policy regarding reputational matters.
04 Financial · and Operational Capacity Requirements Applicants must have stable and sufficient resources to successfully implement projects and contribute their share. Organisations participating in several projects must have sufficient capacity to implement all of them. Financial capacity check will be carried out based on documents requested during grant preparation (profit and loss account, balance sheet, business plan, audit report from approved external auditor, etc). Analysis is based on neutral financial indicators (liquidity, financial autonomy, solvency, profitability) and other aspects such as dependency on EU funding, deficit and revenue in previous years. The check is normally done for all beneficiaries except public bodies or international organisations, and if individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60,000. Operational capacity will be assessed together with the Quality award criterion based on competence, experience, and operational resources (human, technical, other). Applicants must show operational capacity via general profiles of staff, description of consortium participants, and list of previous projects (key projects for last 4 years). Public bodies, Member State organisations and international organisations are exempted from operational capacity check. Exclusion grounds include: bankruptcy or similar procedures; breach of social security or tax obligations; grave professional misconduct; fraud, corruption, criminal organisation involvement, money laundering, terrorism-related crimes, child labour or human trafficking; significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations under EU contracts; irregularities; creation under different jurisdiction to circumvent legal obligations; and resistance to investigations or audits.
05 Submission · and Evaluation Process All proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System before the call deadline (07 January 2027, 17:00:00 CET). Paper submissions are NOT accepted. Submission is a 2-step process: (1) create EU Login user account and register organisation in Participant Register; (2) submit proposal in 3 parts via the Submission System. Proposals must be complete with Application Form Part A (administrative information, filled online), Application Form Part B (technical description, downloaded template, completed and uploaded as PDF), and mandatory annexes (detailed budget table, list of previous projects). Proposals will first be checked for admissibility and eligibility. Admissible and eligible proposals are evaluated by an independent evaluation committee (assisted by external experts) against operational capacity and award criteria, then ranked by scores. Evaluation process includes individual evaluation, consensus group discussion, and panel review. Proposals with same score are prioritised by Relevance score, then Impact score, then Quality score. Successful proposals are invited for grant preparation; others are put on reserve list or rejected. Evaluation timeline: January-May 2027; Information on results: June 2027.
06 Award · Criteria and Scoring Methodology Proposals are evaluated against three award criteria: (1) Relevance (40 points maximum) - assesses clarity and consistency of action, objectives matching call themes and priorities, contribution to EU strategic and legislative context, and relevance to EU values and non-discrimination; (2) Quality (40 points maximum) - assesses logical links between problems/needs/solutions, quality of consortium and project teams, appropriate procedures for cooperation, methodology for implementation (concept, organisation, management, timetable, risks, monitoring), and cost effectiveness; (3) Impact (20 points maximum) - assesses ambition and expected long-term impact on target groups, appropriate dissemination strategy, and sustainability of results after EU funding ends. Maximum total score is 100 points. Individual thresholds per criterion: Relevance 21/40, Quality 21/40, Impact 11/20. Overall threshold: 60 points. Proposals must pass individual thresholds AND overall threshold to be considered for funding within available budget limits. Proposals not meeting thresholds are rejected.
07 Evaluation · Timeline and Grant Agreement Signature The indicative timeline for this call is as follows: Call opening on 10 November 2026; Deadline for submission on 07 January 2027 at 17:00:00 CET (Brussels); Evaluation period from January 2027 to May 2027; Information on evaluation results in June 2027; Grant Agreement signature between July and September 2027. During grant preparation (following invitation to grant preparation), the consortium must prepare grant data and annexes within 3 weeks of GAP invitation letter, finalise within 2 weeks of Project Officer reply, sign declaration of honour within 6 weeks, and complete grant signature within 3 months of GAP invitation letter. Invitation to grant preparation does NOT constitute formal commitment for funding - various legal checks must still be completed including legal entity validation, financial capacity, and exclusion checks. Grant Agreement enters into force with the last signature (normally by the EU after Coordinator signs first). Project starting date is normally after grant signature, though retroactive starting dates can be granted exceptionally for duly justified reasons, but never earlier than proposal submission date.
08 Legal · and Financial Setup of Grants The Grant Agreement sets the framework for the grant and its terms and conditions, particularly concerning deliverables, reporting and payments. The Model Grant Agreement (PPPA MGA - Multi & Mono, Version 1.0, 01 January 2025) will be used. Grant form is budget-based action grant. Maximum grant amount is EUR 400,000 per project, and the grant awarded may be lower than requested. The maximum grant amount cannot exceed 80% of the total budget of the project. Funding rate and total eligible costs will be fixed in the Grant Agreement Data Sheet. Budget categories include: A. Personnel costs (employees, natural persons under direct contract, seconded persons, SME owners, volunteers); B. Subcontracting costs; C. Purchase costs (travel and subsistence, equipment, other goods/works/services); D. Other cost categories (financial support to third parties); E. Indirect costs (7% flat-rate of eligible direct costs). Cost eligibility options include standard supplementary payments, travel and subsistence at unit or actual costs, equipment depreciation or full cost, and VAT. Indirect cost flat-rate is 7% of eligible direct costs. Budget flexibility is available with no flexibility cap. Milestones and deliverables are reflected in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement. Project starting date and duration are fixed in the Grant Agreement Data Sheet. Normally starting date is after grant signature. Retroactive starting dates can be granted exceptionally but never earlier than proposal submission date. Project duration should normally range between 12 and 18 months; longer projects may be accepted if duly justified. Applicable law is EU law supplemented by Belgian law. Dispute settlement for EU beneficiaries is before EU General Court or EU Court of Justice on appeal; for non-EU beneficiaries, courts of Brussels, Belgium (unless international agreement provides otherwise).
09 Online · Manual Submission and Evaluation Procedures The EU Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual (Version 1.3, 01.05.2026) provides detailed procedures for submission and evaluation. For submission: applicants must create an EU Login account, register organisation in Participant Register (obtaining 9-digit PIC), launch submission wizard, pre-register draft proposal, list participants and contact persons, fill Administrative Forms (Part A) online, download and complete Technical Description (Part B) template, upload as PDF, and submit all annexes as PDF files. Proposals must be submitted before call deadline through the Electronic Submission System; after deadline, no corrections or re-submissions are possible but read-only access remains for 90 days. For evaluation: admissibility check verifies proposal is submitted on time, complete with all sections and annexes, readable, accessible and printable, and respects page limits. Eligibility check verifies content aligns with topic description and participants are from eligible countries. Admissible and eligible proposals are evaluated by independent evaluation committee (EU staff and/or external experts) through individual evaluation (at least 3 evaluators), consensus group discussion (evaluators agree on scores), and panel review (ensures consistency across evaluations). Evaluation committee assesses operational capacity integrated with award criteria. Proposals are scored against award criteria with individual and overall thresholds. Evaluation results are communicated via evaluation result letter with evaluation summary report posted in Portal library. Complaints about rejection can be submitted within 30 days requesting admissibility/eligibility/evaluation review, or within 1 month for Article 22 review (EU executive agencies), or within 2 months for action for annulment under Article 263 TFEU.
10 Model · Grant Agreement Terms and Conditions The PPPA MGA (Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions General Model Grant Agreement - Multi & Mono, Version 1.0, 01 January 2025) governs the grant. The Agreement is composed of Preamble, Terms and Conditions (including Data Sheet), Annex 1 (Description of action), Annex 2 (Estimated budget), Annex 2a (Additional information on unit costs), Annex 3 (Accession forms), Annex 3a (Declaration on joint and several liability of affiliated entities), Annex 4 (Model for financial statements), and Annex 5 (Specific rules). Beneficiaries are fully responsible for implementing the Agreement and complying with all obligations. They must implement to their best abilities in good faith. Beneficiaries are jointly responsible for technical implementation; if one fails, others must ensure implementation without increase in grant amount. Beneficiaries must remain eligible throughout action duration. Coordinator acts as intermediary for all communications with granting authority, monitors proper implementation, submits deliverables and reports, and distributes payments to other beneficiaries without unjustified delay. Affiliated entities participate with similar rights and obligations as beneficiaries but do not sign the grant. Associated partners participate without funding. Consortium agreement is not mandatory but recommended for practical and legal reasons. Prefinancing is provided as a float and remains EU property until final payment. Prefinancing may be offset against amounts owed by beneficiary to granting authority. Financial responsibility in case of recoveries is governed by Article 22 and may be limited joint and several liability with individual ceilings, unconditional joint and several liability, or individual financial responsibility. No-profit rule applies: grants may NOT give profit (surplus of revenues plus EU grant over costs). Applicable law is EU law supplemented by Belgian law. Dispute settlement for EU beneficiaries is before EU General Court or EU Court of Justice; for non-EU beneficiaries, courts of Brussels, Belgium. Standard time-limits after project end: Confidentiality 5 years (or 3 for grants under EUR 60,000); Record-keeping 5 years (or 3); Reviews 5 years (or 3); Audits 5 years (or 3); Extension of findings 5 years (or 3); Impact evaluation 5 years (or 3).