Although rarely addressed explicitly, trust always plays a significant role in sports, whether in a no-look pass, providing support in gymnastics, or in climbing. In fact, without a foundation of trust, sport is often practically impossible. Conversely, breaches of trust are serious; they endanger sports disciplines, organizations, and individuals. Thus, building trust is clearly constitutive for sport. This contribution therefore examines how trust in sport not only frames social relations and interactions, but also constitutes them, and to what extent sport differs from other social contexts in this regard. Drawing on Niklas Luhmann’s distinction between personal trust and system trust, the analysis focuses on the sports club to determine how important and functional trust is for its self-organization and system maintenance. This leads to the proposal to view trust in sports clubs as a governance instrument, which is expressed through a specific symbolism.