The Tree-Iceberg model of safeguarding in sport. Regulatory limits and human rights challenges

In the last years, safeguarding in sport has undergone a rapid “juridification”, mainly shaped by international human rights law, regional regulatory instruments, and international sport governance frameworks. Despite the adoption of safeguarding policies, codes of conduct, and compliance mechanisms, institutional failures persist across jurisdictions. This paper advances the Tree–Iceberg Model of safeguarding as a governance-theoretical framework that explains the structural divergence between mere legal compliance and concrete institutional effectiveness. The rationale of this paper lies in the importance promote a more effective interaction between the normative–institutional architecture (the Tree) and submerged socio-organizational dynamics (the Iceberg). By situating safeguarding within debates on human rights in the field of sport and sports autonomy, the paper reframes safeguarding as a test case for the constitutional maturity of global sport governance.