This paper confronts the basic questions involved in the measurement of the performance of national sport organisations through a specific approach conceived and carried out for national swimming federations in four Mediterranean countries (Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain). In the past there has been a number of studies assessing the effectiveness or the performance of NSOs (national sporting organisations/national governing bodies/national sport federations), but these were predominantly descriptive, specific to a particular point in time, and were not related to the establishment of a stable measurement system for management control. Performance is viewed here, in a broad sense, as the ability to acquire and process human, financial and physical resources to achieve the goals of the organisation. To measure a multidimensional performance we propose to use a specific model with a systemic approach (applied from Madella, A. (1998). La performance di successo delle organizzazioni-Spunti di riflessione per gestire efficacemente le societa `di atletica leggera. Atleticastudi , 101 Á/112). This approach combines at the same time, input and process variables and output measures.The final data collected, incorporate five basic dimensions: human resources, finance, institutional communication, partnership and inter-organisational relations, volume and quality of services, and athletes' international performance. An analysis of the global performance of each federation is illustrated. Finally interviews with key actors are used to identify some of the principal factors of success of performance.