The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) registered today the statement of appeal filed by the Japanese athlete Koji Murofushi and the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) against the decision of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) dated 11 August 2012 to withdraw Murofushi as a candidate for election to the IOC Athletes' Commission.

The ad hoc Division ("AHD") of the Court of Arbitration for Sport ("CAS") plays a vital role in major sporting events, notably the Olympics, but it operates on a level so inconspicuous that its impact is barely recognised.

The CAS, with its seat in Lausanne, Switzerland, is the supreme tribunal for sports disputes across the world. Only a minority of sports bodies (Formula 1 and the Football Association being the most notable) do not refer their disputes to CAS. Among its many services is the AHD, a fast-track tribunal operating to resolve disputes during the course of competitions. View our CAS ad hoc Division cases chart.

The ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected the urgent application filed by the French runner Nour-Eddine Gezzar (3000m steeple) who was challenging the provisional suspension which had been imposed on him by the French Athletics Federation (FFA) further to a positive doping test with EPO at the French Championships on 17 June 2012.

The modern pentathlete Jean-Maxence Berrou and the French Modern Pentathlon Federation (FFPM) request the CAS to order the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) to allow J.-M. Berrou to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games further to the withdrawal of the Polish athlete Lukasz Klekot. Following a decision of the UIPM, Klekot was replaced by the Irish pentathlete Arthur Lanigan-O'Keefe. The CAS will hear this case in the afternoon of 3 August 2012 and issue a final decision quickly thereafter.

The ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its second decision in London. It has dismissed a request for arbitration filed by the Irish boxer Joseph Ward (-81kg) who has challenged his non-qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has partially upheld the appeal filed by the Egyptian club Al-Masry against the Egyptian Football Association in relation to the tragedy of Port-Saïd which occurred in February this year. On 24 April 2012, the EFA Appeal Committee issued a decision in which Al-Masry was sanctioned following incidents which took place during the match between Al-Ahly and Al-Masry on 1 February 2012. Pursuant to such decision, Al-Masry was banned from participating in any EFA events for the season 2012/2013 and was relegated to the second Egyptian league for the season 2013/2014 with fans excluded from attending both home and away matches. Furthermore, Al-Masry was banned from holding any games in its stadium (the Port Said Stadium) for four calendar years.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its decision in the procedure involving the Turkish club Besiktas JK and UEFA. The CAS has confirmed the sanctions imposed by the UEFA Appeals Body on 30 May 2012:

• Besiktas JK is excluded from the next two UEFA club competitions for which it qualifies in the next five seasons;
• The exclusion for the second competition is suspended for a probationary period of five years;
• Besiktas JK is fined EUR 200'000, of which EUR 100'000 is suspended for a probationary period of five years.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its decision in the procedure involving the Turkish club Bursaspor KD and UEFA. In particular, the exclusion of Bursaspor KD, which was decided by the UEFA Appeals Body, has been suspended by the CAS for a probationary period of three years.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its decisionsion in the appeals filed by the riders Khaled Abdullaziz Al Eid and Abdullah Waleed Sharbatly (Saudi Arabia) against the decision of the Tribunal of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI).

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its decision in the arbitration between the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the German cyclist Jan Ullrich & Swiss Olympic. The CAS has partially upheld the appeal filed by the UCI and has found Jan Ullrich guilty of a doping offence. As a consequence, Jan Ullrich is sanctioned with a two-year period of ineligibility starting retroactively on 22 August 2011. Furthermore, all results achieved by the athlete on or after 1 May 2005 until his retirement are annulled.

At the parties’ request, the proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have been suspended in the appeal cases filed by Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Salman Butt against the International Cricket Council (ICC) Anti-Corruption Tribunal's decision of 5 February 2011 pursuant to which the players were banned from participating in cricket after being found guilty of spot fixing in two Test matches. The CAS proceedings are suspended pending the conclusion of the criminal proceedings in the United Kingdom.

For futher information please visit www.tas-cas.org.

he Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its decision in the appeal cases submitted by the Romanian football club CS Pandurii Lignitul in relation to its ban to be scheduled in official matches and the match CS Pandurii Lignitul v. FC Otelul Galati initially planned for 25 February 2011.

The Romanian Professional Football League (RPFL) had ordered that such game be forfeited by CS Pandurii Lignitul following the non participation of the club due to its ban which itself followed the non-compliance by the club with previous decisions of the RPFL.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has registered the following appeals:

• The appeal filed by Mr Amos Adamu (Nigeria), former FIFA Executive Committee member, against the FIFA Appeal Committee’s decision to ban him for three years from any activity related to football at national and international level.
• The appeal filed by Mr Ahongalu Fusimalohi (Tonga), former General Secretary of the Tonga Football Association, against the FIFA Appeal Committee’s decision to ban him for two years from any activity related to football at national and international level.

In both cases, the appellants request that they be found not guilty and the sanctions against them be annulled. The cases will be handled in accordance with the procedural rules set out in the Code of Sports-related Arbitration. The parties will first exchange written submissions and will then be heard at a hearing, the date of which will be fixed at a later stage.

For further information please visit www.tas-cas.org.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its final decision in the arbitration between the football players Norbert Mészáros & Vukasin Poleksic and the Union Européenne de Football Association (UEFA). The CAS has partially confirmed the decision of the UEFA Appeals Body of 8 September 2010 and has ruled that the suspension of Vukasin Poleksic until 30 June 2012 is maintained and that the suspension of Norbert Mészáros (until 31 December 2011) is annulled.

Norbert Mészáros and Vukasin Poleksic were both players of Debreceni VSC (Hungary) during the season 2009-2010. On 20 October 2009, both players played in the UEFA Champions League match Debreceni VSC – AC Fiorentina in Budapest (the score was 3-4). In relation to that match, some investigations were carried out by the police authorities of Bochum (Germany) in cooperation with the UEFA Disciplinary Services, which revealed that a criminal gang was planning to manipulate the match within the framework of an organised betting fraud. As a result, the case was referred to the Control and Disciplinary Body of UEFA considering that both players were suspected of having violated the principles of loyalty and integrity by not reporting attempts of bribery and by acting in a way that was likely to exert an influence on the progress and/or result of a match in violation of the UEFA Regulations. The Control and Disciplinary Body of UEFA suspended Norbert Mészáros until 31 December 2011 and fined him EUR 7’000, and suspended Vukasin Poleksic until 30 June 2012 and fined him EUR 10’000. The sanctions were confirmed by the UEFA Appeals Body.

On 29 October 2010, both players filed an appeal with the CAS requesting the annulment of the UEFA decision (Mészáros) and the reduction of the suspension (Poleksic). The case was referred to a panel of CAS arbitrators composed of Prof. Luigi Fumagalli, Italy (President), Mr Andras Gurovits, Switzerland and Mr Christian Duve, Germany (arbitrators).

A hearing was held in Lausanne on 10 March 2011, during which the parties, their legal representatives and their witnesses were heard.

The CAS panel confirmed the UEFA decision regarding Vukasin Poleksic and concluded that it had been proven to its comfortable satisfaction that there had been contacts between the player and the members of a criminal group involved in match fixing and betting fraud and that he was obliged to have reported the said contacts to UEFA. By failing to make such a report, Poleksic had violated the principles of conduct set forth in the UEFA Regulations.

The CAS panel annulled the UEFA decision regarding Norbert Mészáros considering that the evidence submitted to the CAS was not sufficient to establish to the comfortable satisfaction of the Panel that a violation of the UEFA Regulations had been committed.

The existence of an effective manipulation concerning the Champions League match between Debreceni VSC and Fiorentina could not be established during the CAS procedure.

For further information please visit www.tas-cas.org.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled on the appeal of the International Cycling Union (UCI) against the decision of the Senate of the Olympic Committee of Slovenia (OCS) regarding the Slovenian cyclist Tadej Valjavec.

The CAS has set aside the decision of the OCS to exonerate the athlete from any doping offense and has imposed a two-year ban on him starting on 20 January 2011, as well as the disqualification of all his results obtained between 19 April and 30 September 2009 and a fine of EUR 52’500. The CAS found that anti-doping tests performed in April and August 2009 revealed abnormalities in the context of the athlete’s biological passport to a degree which was entirely consistent with blood manipulation.

The CAS has therefore confirmed the reliability of the indirect method of detection based on the blood profile of athletes and already established in previous CAS decisions concerning the Italian cyclists Pietro Caucchioli and Franco Pellizotti.

For further information please visit www.tas-cas.org.