Belgium merges Olympic and Paralympic committees: from 2027, the unified BOPC is created
The Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee (BOIC/COIB) and the Belgian Paralympic Committee (BPC) will, from 1 January 2027, operate within a single organisation called the Belgian Olympic and Paralympic Committee, or BOPC. The decision was approved on 4 June 2026 by the general assemblies of both organisations, and Team Belgium and Paralympic Team Belgium presented it as one of the most important institutional changes in the recent history of Belgian sport. According to Team Belgium's official statement, the merger aims to bring together support for elite athletes, align professional resources and strengthen the joint presence of Belgian sport in the international Olympic and Paralympic movement.
The decision means that the existing Olympic and Paralympic system, which was formally organised through two separate national bodies, will from the beginning of 2027 move under a shared roof. According to the Belgian Paralympic Committee's announcement, the new organisation will include all Paralympic elements and relations with the national and international Paralympic movement, while the special national role of the parasports federation will be transferred to the Belgian Para Sports Federation. This separates the institutional representation of the Paralympic movement from the operational federation role in parasport, which is an important detail for understanding the real scope of the reform.
The decision was made at separate assemblies
According to a report by The Brussels Times, which cited the Belga agency, both committees decided on the merger on 4 June 2026 at separate meetings in Tubize. The BPC voted on the proposal during an afternoon session at the Belgian Cycling headquarters, while the BOIC announced its decision the same evening on the premises of the Royal Belgian Football Association. The same source states that the merger was unanimously approved in both organisations, giving the new structure strong legitimacy ahead of the transition period.
Team Belgium states in its announcement that this was not a sudden move, but the completion of a process that had been prepared during the previous year. During that period, according to the same announcement, the goals, needs and consequences of the merger were analysed, and athletes were included in the discussions as one of the key groups affected by the reform. For Belgian sport this is particularly important because the reform is not presented only as administrative rationalisation, but as an attempt to create a shared culture of elite sport in which Olympic and Paralympic athletes are treated as parts of the same national sporting community.
Belgium joins a narrow group of countries with a joint committee
According to the official announcement by Team Belgium and the Belgian Paralympic Committee, Belgium will become the sixth country in the world in which the national Olympic committee and national Paralympic committee are united in one organisation. The announcement states that such a model was introduced before Belgium by the Netherlands, the United States of America, Norway, Saudi Arabia and the Republic of South Africa. This information emphasises that this is still a relatively rare international model of sports governance, although cooperation between Olympic and Paralympic structures in many countries has been increasingly developing in recent years through joint campaigns, sponsorship programmes and communication platforms.
In the Belgian case, such cooperation had already been visible through joint training camps, the alignment of visual identity and joint communication activities ahead of major competitions. In its statement, Team Belgium particularly highlighted the campaigns for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024 and the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games as examples of the gradual rapprochement of the two systems. The Brussels Times, citing Belga, additionally mentioned the joint Team Belgium camp in Belek, Turkey, in 2022 as one of the earlier examples of practical cooperation.
Leadership message: one sports movement and greater visibility for athletes
BOIC president Jean-Michel Saive described the decision as a historic step for Belgian sport. According to Team Belgium's statement, Saive stressed that the merger should create a stronger movement that connects sporting excellence, inclusiveness and social impact. His message is summarised in the formulation that there is only one Team Belgium, which is also the main communication backbone of the entire project. Saive also thanked the sports federations for their support, because it was precisely the national federations that are members of the BOIC that had to confirm the direction of the change.
BPC president Ellen Van Camp said in the same statement that the ambition of expanding inclusiveness through sport is gaining a new dimension. According to her, the merger should be an example to sports federations and the wider community because the principle of an equal place for persons with disabilities is also being applied to the very institutions that speak about it. This emphasis is important because the decision changes not only the way Belgian athletes are represented internationally, but also the message that national sport sends to clubs, federations, partners and the public.
Cédric Van Branteghem, chief executive officer of the BOIC, according to the official announcement assessed that the decision shows that sports federations believe in the long-term ambition of acting together. He stressed that the BOIC and BPC have been cooperating for years and that at one point a clear decision on the future direction had to be made. Olek Kazimirowski, managing director of the BPC, added that the project is the result of months of reflection and that the operational completion of the integration will take time, but that it opens new opportunities for the Belgian parasports movement.
What changes for the Paralympic movement
Until now, the Belgian Paralympic Committee, according to its own description, represented the Paralympic movement and its values in Belgium and was recognised by the International Paralympic Committee. The BPC also had the role of the national Paralympic committee that sends Paralympic Team Belgium to the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, and in the Belgian sports system it also acted as the national partner for Paralympic sport. Its official website states that the BPC has two members: Ligue Handisport Francophone and G-sport Vlaanderen, organisations that are crucial for the development of sport for persons with disabilities in the French-speaking and Flemish communities.
After the merger, according to the statement by Team Belgium and the BPC, all Paralympic elements and links with the national and international Paralympic movement will move into the new joint organisation BOPC. At the same time, the role of the national parasports federation, which was also under the BPC, will in future belong to the Belgian Para Sports Federation. That federation should continue cooperation with G-sport Vlaanderen and Ligue Handisport Francophone, which means that the existing network of professional work, clubs and regional partners is not being interrupted, but that a clearer institutional division is being sought.
The BOIC brings Olympic heritage and international recognition
The BOIC is Belgium's national Olympic committee and part of the Olympic system recognised by the International Olympic Committee. According to official data from Olympics.com, the Belgian national Olympic committee was recognised in 1906, its president is Jean-Michel Saive, and its secretary general is Cédric Van Branteghem. These data are important because they show that an institution with long continuity, international status and a developed network of relations with national federations, the International Olympic Committee and European sports structures is entering the new organisation.
On the other hand, International Paralympic Committee data on Belgium list the BPC as the national Paralympic committee, with Ellen Van Camp as president. The IPC database for Belgium also shows the medal performance of Belgian Paralympians, including seven gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Such results further explain why the merger cannot be viewed only through administrative efficiency, but also through the issue of further support for athletes who are already achieving internationally relevant results.
Gradual integration, not an immediate change of everything
According to the official statement, the merger will be built gradually. The BOPC wants to develop and align elite sport programmes, the partner offer and the brand architecture of Team Belgium and Paralympic Team Belgium. This means that from 1 January 2027 a shared institutional framework will be established, but full integration of all levels of work does not have to happen in a single step. That is precisely why the announcements emphasised that the decision is an important stage in a long-term process, and not the end of all organisational changes.
Such an approach reduces the risk that existing athlete support programmes will be disrupted during the transition period. For athletes, it is crucial that the change does not create uncertainties around preparations, qualification processes, funding, medical and professional support or relations with international federations. From the information available so far, it follows that the operational details will be further developed, and the BPC particularly emphasised that the completion of full operational integration will require additional time. This is expected in mergers of institutions that have different international obligations, different histories and different links with national federations.
Wider significance for Belgian sport
The merger of the BOIC and BPC may have an impact on the way elite sport is planned in Belgium, sporting successes are communicated and partners are attracted. A unified committee can facilitate joint campaigns, a more efficient distribution of expertise and a stronger market approach towards sponsors, but success will depend on how Olympic and Paralympic priorities are aligned in practice. The statements emphasise that athletes remain at the centre of the change, which means that the reform will be assessed primarily according to whether it improves conditions for preparation, competitions and the long-term development of careers.
The decision also has symbolic weight because it confirms a trend in which Paralympic sport is increasingly presented as an equal part of national sporting identity, and not as a separate system. The Belgian example will now be one of the models that other countries will be able to observe, especially those in which Olympic and Paralympic committees already cooperate closely, but are still formally separate. For Belgian athletes, the new structure should mean a shared platform, stronger institutional visibility and a clearer message that Team Belgium and Paralympic Team Belgium will in the future operate within the same national sporting project.
Sources:
- Team Belgium / BOIC – official statement on the merger of the BOIC and BPC into the BOPC from 1 January 2027 (link)
- Paralympic Team Belgium / Belgian Paralympic Committee – official announcement on the decision of the general assemblies and the role of the new organisation (link)
- The Brussels Times / Belga – report on the meeting venues, unanimous approval and context of the merger (link)
- Olympics.com / International Olympic Committee – official data on the Belgian national Olympic committee (link)
- International Paralympic Committee – official profile of Belgium and data on the Belgian Paralympic Committee (link)
- Paralympic Team Belgium – official description of the role of the BPC and member organisations of the Paralympic movement in Belgium (link)