Safeguarding in Sport: What France's March 2024 Law Means for Your Club

Update, August 5, 2026. This article has been corrected and clarified: the exact acronym of the file is FIJAISV (not “FIJAIS”), and the legal framing is reworded — the March 8, 2024 law reinforces a safeguarding check that already existed under Article L. 212-9 of the Code du sport; it did not create it. The figures have been re-verified against primary sources (the Senate, the Ministry of Sports, and the Ministry of Labour and Solidarities) and are now cited with their origin and date.

Tuesday evening, 7:30pm. A board meeting at a 220-member football club in suburban Lyon. The president opens an email from the federation: “Reminder — annual safeguarding check mandatory for all staff working with minors.” He turns to the secretary: “What exactly does this mean? What do we have to do?”

This president isn’t negligent. He’s simply overwhelmed. And he’s far from alone.

What the law actually says — in plain language

The loi n° 2024-201 of March 8, 2024, “aimed at strengthening the protection of minors and integrity in sport,” does not create the safeguarding check: that check already existed under Article L. 212-9 of the Code du sport, and the automated tool (SI Honorabilité) dates back to décret n° 2021-379 of March 31, 2021. What the 2024 law does is reinforce that framework: it writes the annual automated cross-check into law (L. 212-9 I bis), it locks the case where a FIJAISV entry persists after the B2 record is expunged, and — this part is new — it lets the préfet ban a failing dirigeant or facility operator from holding their role.

The core principle

Every person who supervises minors in a sporting context must undergo an annual safeguarding check (contrôle d’honorabilité — Article L. 212-9 I bis of the Code du sport). This check verifies that the individual has no convictions or pending charges incompatible with working with children.

Who is covered?

The short answer: nearly everyone in your club.

The scope covers supervisors whether paid or volunteer. The legal anchor is the supervision of minors and the roles listed in Articles L. 212-1, L. 223-1, and L. 322-7 of the Code du sport.

What gets checked

State services consult two databases:

1. Bulletin n°2 of the criminal record (B2) — which lists criminal convictions, excluding minor offences and certain rehabilitated decisions.

2. FIJAISV (Fichier Judiciaire national Automatisé des auteurs d’Infractions Sexuelles ou Violentes — the National Automated Judicial File of Perpetrators of Sexual or Violent Offences, Article 706-53-7 of the Code de procédure pénale) — which records individuals convicted of or charged with sexual or violent offences.

Critical point: the 2024 law locks one specific case — an incapacity arising from a final conviction recorded in the FIJAISV applies even if it no longer appears on the Bulletin n° 2 (a derogation from Article 133-16 of the Code pénal, written into Article L. 212-9 I bis). This is a safety net designed to leave no gaps.

The official figures (primary sources)

This isn’t a theoretical threat. The State has industrialised the check, and the public figures show it:

• Around 2 million volunteer sports educators supervise in France, alongside some 250,000 professionals — all covered by the check. (Senate, report n° 699, 2022-2023)
• More than 4.8 million safeguarding checks carried out since 2021, including 1.4 million in 2025 alone, leading to 981 people being removed from coaching roles. (Ministry of Sports — 2025 report of the Signal-Sports unit, April 23, 2026)
• 2,607 reports handled by the Signal-Sports unit since 2020, resulting in 1,135 administrative measures (bans or suspensions); in 2025 alone, 872 reports, up 64% year-on-year. (same report)
• Since the “Demande Honorabilité” platform opened in September 2024 (child protection, all sectors combined): more than 342,000 attestations issued and 1,733 refused. (Ministry of Labour and Solidarities, October 1, 2025)
• Around 100 posts redeployed from 2026 into the departmental services (SDJES) to reinforce these checks. (Ministry of Sports, statement of December 10, 2025)

In other words: the check is real, large-scale, and it produces very concrete bans. A club that lets a supervisor’s check lapse isn’t in a grey zone — it’s outside the lines of a system the State is actively monitoring.

What the club president risks

This is where many volunteer leaders are caught off guard. The March 2024 law doesn’t just impose obligations on coaches. It creates direct sanctions for club leaders in three situations:

1. The leader themselves poses a danger to minors
2. The leader employs or keeps in position someone who doesn’t meet safeguarding requirements
3. The leader fails to report at-risk behaviour they’re aware of to state services

In all three cases, the leader can face a temporary or permanent ban from holding a sports leadership role.

And it goes further: violating this ban carries a penalty of 1 year imprisonment and a €15,000 fine.

Read that again. One year in prison and fifteen thousand euros. For a volunteer giving their free time to a local club. Not because they committed an offence, but because they didn’t check — or didn’t report.

The practical problem: how do you actually verify?

The automated system (SI Honorabilité) works through sports federations — not through a portal the supervisor logs into themselves. Do not confuse it with honorabilite.social.gouv.fr, which is for the social and medico-social sector only: a request there is refused for the sports sector. Key point: in sport, the State issues no attestation to the individual — it only notifies you in case of an incapacity. In theory, the process runs like this:

1. The club collects identity information from each staff member during licence registration
2. The federation transmits the data to state services
3. The state performs the check (B2 + FIJAISV) — only state services have access to these files
4. If there’s a problem, the préfet notifies an incapacity to coach

In theory, it’s smooth. In practice, the club still needs to:

• Ensure every coach has a valid licence — including occasional volunteers who “help out” at training sessions
• Track certificates — know who’s been checked, who hasn’t, whose licence has expired
• React immediately to any incapacity notification — remove the person from all activities involving minors
• Keep records of all verifications — if inspected, the club must prove it did its due diligence
• Proactively report any concerning behaviour observed, even without a conviction

For a 50-member club with 5 coaches, this is manageable. For a multi-sport club with 400 members and 30 educators, referees, helpers, and board members? It’s an administrative nightmare.

What well-prepared clubs are doing

The best-organised clubs don’t just wait for the federation check. They put in place systematic internal tracking.

A centralised register

A document (or better, a tool) that lists every staff member with:

• Date of last verification
• Check status (pending, compliant, non-compliant)
• Licence expiry date
• Qualifications (diplomas, first aid, etc.)

Automated reminders

When a licence approaches expiry, the coach receives a reminder. Not a text message sent by the secretary on Sunday evening — an automatic, traceable reminder.

A clear alert before assignment

If a coach isn’t up to date — expired licence, pending check, missing qualification — the leadership team is clearly informed before assigning them to a training slot or a match involving minors. A tool cannot compel a volunteer, but it can make sure the decision is made with full knowledge, never in a blind spot. The decision remains the club’s — it’s the club’s legal responsibility.

Structured reporting

The law requires club leaders to report at-risk behaviour to state services. Federations must themselves immediately inform the Minister of Sports. A well-equipped club has a clear process: who reports, how, to whom, with what follow-up.

Why spreadsheets are no longer enough

If you’ve read our article on why clubs should ditch Excel, you see the connection. Safeguarding tracking is exactly the kind of task where a spreadsheet becomes dangerous:

• No automated reminders — you have to remember to check manually each month
• No alert — nothing flags, at the moment of assigning them, that a coach isn’t up to date
• No audit trail — if inspected, you can’t prove when or by whom the check was performed
• No structured reporting — no workflow, no follow-up

The day an incident occurs, the question won’t be “did the club have Excel?” but “did the club have a reliable system to protect its young members?”

What Paak changes

Paak integrates safeguarding tracking directly into daily club management:

• Compliance dashboard — real-time view of every coach’s status (valid, expiring soon, expired)
• Automatic reminders — an automatic reminder 30, 14, and 7 days before the annual check falls due
• Clear alerts and notifications — any coach whose check is expired or pending stands out clearly on the dashboard, and Paak automatically notifies the administrators (and the person concerned) so the situation gets handled. Paak informs the people who need to know; it does not replace the club’s decision
• Export of the coaching roster — a CSV file listing identities in the expected format to feed your federation’s transmission (Paak One and Paak Pro)
• Complete history — every check is timestamped and traceable, useful in an inspection where the burden of proof falls on the club
• GDPR compliant — data hosted in France, European digital sovereignty

An honest clarification: Paak does not replace the State’s check. It’s the State that queries the B2 and the FIJAISV, and the préfet who issues an incapacity. Paak helps you be ready — track, remind, export, keep records — so no check lapses in a blind spot and you can prove you did what was required.

👉 Follow the step-by-step guide in the help centre — what the tool covers, what it can’t do, and the official sources.

This isn’t a luxury. It’s the minimum for a club leader who wants to sleep at night.

Time to act

The March 8, 2024 law isn’t a future regulation. It’s in force. Checks are active. Sanctions are real. And the government has made clear it’s strengthening enforcement.

Since June 2025, the enforcement framework is complete. Decree 2025-511 of June 10, 2025 now empowers prefects to issue bans against sports facility operators who fail to meet their obligations (Article L.322-3 of the Sports Code). Administrative sanctions against leaders who employ non-compliant staff or fail to report at-risk behaviour are now fully operational.

If you’re the president, treasurer, or secretary of a sports club, ask yourself three questions:

1. Do I know the safeguarding status of every coach and volunteer in my club?
2. Do I have a system that alerts me when someone isn’t compliant?
3. Can I prove, if inspected, that I did everything required?

If the answer to any of these is “no” or “I’m not sure,” it’s time to act. Not just because it’s the law — even though it is. But because behind every safeguarding check, there’s a child who deserves to be protected.

Protecting the young people in your club shouldn’t take 2 hours. It should take 2 clicks.

Read more:

• Excel is killing your club (and no one dares say it) — the true cost of spreadsheets
• Digital sovereignty: why it matters for your club — data hosted in Europe
• Why CRM is no longer a luxury for sports clubs — centralise to manage better

Paak is a management platform for sports clubs, designed to automate compliance and protect your volunteers. 100% European. paak.club