Cooperation Partnerships

The Erasmus+ Sport 2026 Cooperation Partnerships grant program aims to fund transnational partnerships that enhance education and skills development through sports. The call for proposals, identified as ERASMUS-SPORT-2026-SCP, opens on December 18, 2025, with a submission deadline of March 5, 2026, at 17:00 Brussels time. This program is classified as ERASMUS Lump Sum Grants, allowing beneficiaries to receive fixed amounts ranging from €120,000 to €400,000 for eligible projects, with a total budget of approximately €38.136 million for this call.

Eligible applicants include diverse organizations involved in education, training, youth, sport, and socio-economic sectors such as sports clubs, educational institutions, public authorities, and NGOs, provided they form a consortium. The requirement for collaboration reinforces transnational cooperation within the European Community, emphasizing that each consortium can only submit one application per deadline.

The geographic scope of eligibility encompasses EU Member States and various countries in regions identified as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia. Notably, Belarus can only participate in a limited partner role with justification.

The program targets key areas within the sports sector, focusing on athlete welfare, dual career pathways, integration of sports in education, integrity, inclusion, and addressing broader social issues. Funded projects are expected to develop and implement innovative, evidence-based practices that can be reused and scaled up.

The application process consists of a single stage, where complete proposals are submitted once, undergoing evaluation from March to August 2026. Successful applicants will be notified in August 2026, followed by the signing of grant agreements between November and December 2026.

Importantly, co-funding is not explicitly required, meaning the lump sums are intended to cover all eligible costs associated with project implementation. Applicants are encouraged to consult the call documentation for detailed guidelines and ensure their proposals meet the evaluation criteria, which will assess relevance, quality of design, impact potential, and partnership quality.

This funding opportunity reflects the EU's commitment to leveraging sport as a transformative tool for education, inclusion, and social development across Europe.

The EU Funding & Tenders Portal presents a call for proposals under the Erasmus+ Programme, specifically the Sport 2026 call (ERASMUS-SPORT-2026). The action type is ERASMUS-LS, which refers to ERASMUS Lump Sum Grants, utilizing the ERASMUS Lump Sum Grant Model Grant Agreement (MGA). This is a forthcoming call with a single-stage deadline model. The planned opening date is December 18, 2025, and the deadline for submitting applications is March 5, 2026, at 17:00 Brussels time.

The scope of this call focuses on Cooperation Partnerships, aiming to enhance the quality and relevance of participating organizations' activities. These partnerships are designed to develop and strengthen partner networks, increase the capacity for transnational cooperation, boost the internationalization of activities, and facilitate the exchange and development of new practices and methods. The call supports the development, transfer, and implementation of innovative practices, as well as joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning, and exchanges of experience at the European level. The expected results should be re-usable, transferable, upscalable, and transdisciplinary.

The objectives of the action are to increase the quality of work, activities, and practices of involved organizations, encourage the inclusion of new actors from different sectors, build the capacity of organizations to work transnationally and across sectors, address common needs and priorities in education, training, youth, and sport, and enable transformation and change at individual, organizational, or sectoral levels.

Regarding admissibility conditions, the proposal page limit and layout are detailed in the call document and Part B of the Application Form, which is available in the Submission System.

Eligible countries include EU Member States, third countries associated with the Programme, and third countries not associated with the Programme but located in regions 1 to 3. Belarus is an exception and can only participate if justified and in a partner role. Region 1 includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Montenegro. Region 2 includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and the territory of Ukraine as recognized by international law. Region 3 includes Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia. Additional specifications can be found in the call document.

Other eligible conditions, financial and operational capacity, exclusion criteria, submission and evaluation processes, award criteria, scoring, thresholds, and the legal and financial setup of the grants are all described in detail within the call document.

The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement includes the publication of the call on November 12, 2025, a submission deadline of March 5, 2026, an evaluation period from March to August 2026, information to applicants in August 2026, and the signature of the grant agreement between November and December 2026.

The call document and annexes include the call document itself, application form templates (Standard application form (ERASMUS LSI) and Calculator (ERASMUS LS SPORT)), guidance documents such as the ERASMUS Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements (MGA) including the Lump Sum MGA, and additional documents such as the ERASMUS+ Work Programme, ERASMUS Regulation 2021/817, EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, EU Grants AGA Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions, and Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement. There is also a newer version of the EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.

The budget overview for the year 2026 includes three specific topics: ERASMUS-SPORT-2026-SCP with a budget of EUR 38,136,000, ERASMUS-SPORT-2026-SNCESE with a budget of EUR 9,500,000, and ERASMUS-SPORT-2026-SSCP with a budget of EUR 10,000,000. All three topics are ERASMUS Lump Sum Grants and follow a single-stage submission process. The opening date for these topics is December 18, 2025, and the deadline is March 5, 2026.

There are six partner search announcements available for collaboration on this topic. LEARs, Account Administrators, and self-registrants can publish partner requests on the portal. The submission system is planned to open on the date stated in the topic header.

For support, applicants are advised to carefully read all provisions before preparing their application. For call-related help, contact EACEA-SPORT@ec.europa.eu. Additional resources include the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, the IT Helpdesk for technical issues, and the Online Manual for a step-by-step guide through the Portal processes.

In summary, this Erasmus+ Sport 2026 call for proposals seeks to foster cooperation and innovation in the field of sport through transnational partnerships. It provides funding for projects that aim to improve the quality and relevance of activities, build capacity, and address common priorities in education, training, youth, and sport. The call is open to a wide range of organizations from EU Member States and associated third countries, with specific conditions for participation. The application process involves a single-stage submission, with a deadline in March 2026, and successful projects will be selected based on evaluation criteria detailed in the call document. The overall goal is to promote positive change and new approaches in the sport sector through collaborative, transnational initiatives.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly defined in the provided text, but it can be inferred that the opportunity is open to organizations and institutions. The text mentions "organisations to increase the quality and relevance of their activities, to develop and reinforce their networks of partners, to increase their capacity to operate jointly at transnational level". The call is also opening up to new actors, not naturally included within one sector. Further details regarding eligible applicant types would likely be found in the call document.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically an "ERASMUS Lump Sum Grant" (ERASMUS-LS).

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity is geared towards cooperation partnerships, suggesting that a consortium of multiple applicants is required. The emphasis on developing and reinforcing networks of partners, and increasing the capacity to operate jointly at transnational level, implies that multiple organizations should be involved.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States, third countries associated to the Programme, and third countries not associated to the Programme in regions 1 to 3, with the exception of Belarus (if justified and for partner role only). Region 1 includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Montenegro. Region 2 includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and the territory of Ukraine as recognised by international law. Region 3 includes Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia.

Target Sector: The program targets the fields of education, training, youth, and sport.

Mentioned Countries: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine. The text also mentions EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme.

Project Stage: The opportunity aims to support the development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices as well as the implementation of joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchanges of experience at European level. This suggests that the project stage could range from development to implementation. The results should be re-usable, transferable and upscalable, which implies projects that are ready to move beyond the initial research phase.

Funding Amount: There are three topics listed with specific budget allocations: ERASMUS-SPORT-2026-SCP has a budget of 38,136,000 EUR, ERASMUS-SPORT-2026-SNCESE has a budget of 9,500,000 EUR, and ERASMUS-SPORT-2026-SSCP has a budget of 10,000,000 EUR. The funding amount per project is not specified, but these figures represent the total budget available for each topic.

Application Type: The application type is an open call, with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant.

Application Stages: The application process consists of a single stage.

Success Rates: The success rates are not mentioned in the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement.

Summary:

This is a call for proposals under the Erasmus+ Programme, specifically the Sport 2026 call (ERASMUS-SPORT-2026), focusing on Cooperation Partnerships. The call aims to enhance the quality and relevance of activities of participating organizations, develop and reinforce their networks, and increase their capacity to operate transnationally. The program supports the development, transfer, and implementation of innovative practices and joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning, and exchanges of experience at the European level. The expected results should be re-usable, transferable, upscalable, and transdisciplinary.

The call is open to organizations from EU Member States, third countries associated with the program, and specific third countries in regions 1, 2, and 3 (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro; Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine; Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia), with certain conditions for Belarus.

The funding mechanism is an ERASMUS Lump Sum Grant. The application process is a single-stage submission, with the deadline for applications on March 5, 2026. The evaluation period is from March to August 2026, and the grant agreements are expected to be signed in November-December 2026.

There are three specific topics within this call: ERASMUS-SPORT-2026-SCP, ERASMUS-SPORT-2026-SNCESE, and ERASMUS-SPORT-2026-SSCP, with respective budgets of 38,136,000 EUR, 9,500,000 EUR, and 10,000,000 EUR.

Applicants are advised to consult the call document and annexes for detailed information on admissibility conditions, eligible countries, evaluation criteria, and the legal and financial setup of the grants. The Erasmus Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements, and other additional documents are available for guidance.