A recurring question in international sports governance circles concerns the precise relationship between the International Council of Traditional Sports and Games (ICTSG) and UNESCO. This article sets the record straight.

ICTSG is an independent, non-governmental international organization headquartered in Hollywood, Florida, USA. It is not a UNESCO subsidiary, affiliated body, or formally accredited NGO in the traditional sense. ICTSG operates under its own founding statutes, its own governance structures, and its own strategic mandate. Its President, Khalil Ahmed Khan, chairs the UNESCO Ad Hoc Advisory Committee (AAC) on Traditional Sports and Games — a role that exists within the UNESCO framework but is distinct from the ICTSG institution itself.

The Distinction That Matters

The UNESCO TSG project — formally launched through the 1st Collective Consultation of Experts on Traditional Sports and Games in Paris in 2006 — is a UNESCO-led initiative to document, safeguard, and promote traditional sports and games as intangible cultural heritage. ICTSG emerged from this ecosystem as an independent actor committed to carrying that mission forward through institutional infrastructure, the SRETS Elevation Framework, and global advocacy.

In other words: UNESCO created the global conversation on TSG. ICTSG was built to act on it.

Aligned in Mission, Independent in Structure

Where UNESCO provides the normative framework — through its 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and its broader cultural diplomacy mandate — ICTSG provides the operational machinery: country registrations, sport documentation, ministerial ownership, and the SRETS pathway from local game to internationally recognised heritage discipline.

Khalil Ahmed Khan has navigated both institutions with deliberate clarity. As AAC Chair, he has guided UNESCO's TSG agenda at key milestones including the 4th Collective Consultation in Istanbul (2018), where ministerial ownership of TSG was formally established. As ICTSG President, he leads the organisation that implements, advocates, and scales the outcomes of those consultations.

The SRETS Framework, the Group of Friends of TSG at UNESCO comprising Ministers and Ambassadors, and the designation of the first World Traditional Sports and Games to Kazakhstan — all bear the mark of this dual mandate.

Why Independence Matters

ICTSG's independence is not a limitation — it is a strategic strength. As a non-governmental body, ICTSG can engage governments, intergovernmental organisations, civil society, and sport federations without the procedural constraints that formal UN bodies face. It can act with speed, creativity, and specificity that multilateral institutions are not always able to achieve.

At the UN Summit of the Future (2024), ICTSG was present as an independent voice — not as a UNESCO delegation — advocating for the integration of traditional sports and games into the global SDG framework and the Summit's Pact for the Future.

The relationship between ICTSG and UNESCO is best described as a values alignment and mission convergence, not a formal institutional subordination. Both are committed to the preservation and celebration of humanity's sporting heritage. Both recognise that when a sport disappears, a culture loses a living expression of its identity.

ICTSG exists to ensure that never happens.