Italian Revenue Agency scores again on the tax treatment of Cristiano Ronaldo's image rights income
The Second Instance Tax Court of Piedmont issued its judgment no. 219 of 15 May 2023 (“Decision”) regarding the tax treatment of income deriving from the exploitation of image r...
Key legal issues to look out for at the Rugby World Cup 2023
With the Rugby World Cup 2023 upon us, LawInSport has reached out to a number of legal experts working in the sports ...
Key sports law decisions by the Swiss Federal Tribunal published in first half of 2023
This article provides analysis of some of the key cases from The Swiss Federal Tribunal (“SFT”) is that were publishe...
Football agents (PROFAA) v FIFA – CAS’s biggest EU competition law decision yet?
On 24 July 2023, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) issued its decision in the dispute between the Profession...
CAS decision provides guidance on Football Club ‘sporting succession’ in Romania
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”), in its recent award in CAS 2021/A/8331 Victor Pițurcă v. RFF & U Crai...
The Battle For Olympic Selection And Coaches Conflict Of Interest - Manika Batra Vs TTFI
Manika Batra (“Manika”) is a top 50 ranked international table tennis player from India. She has been the torchbearer...
Working as a football agent in Italy: Complying with the FIFA's Football Agent Regulations & Italian law
On January 6th, 2023, the FIFA Football Agent Regulations (“FFAR”), were published following their enactment in Doha ...
An analysis of Premier League fines against Crystal Palace FC for delays in taking to pitch
This article looks at the decision and reasons of a Premier League Independent Disciplinary Commission (“Commission”)...
Leicester City FC fined by UK Competition Authority: Key learnings for sports organisations
On 31 July 2023, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) issued an infringement decision finding that Leices...
Sports lawyer in the spotlight: Brianna Quinn
For this edition of Sports Lawyer In The Spotlight, we interviewed Brianna Quinn who is a partner at Bird & Bird ...
Why non-compete clauses have no place in professional football
For the Malta Football Players Association (“MFPA”), it was hard not to hear echoes of a pre-Bosman era, when a Brazi...
The battle for sports data: IMG Arena takes Stats Perform to court
It pays to know things. In any market, there is a premium on accurate information being provided at speed. In the fi...
Will EU and UK Competition Authorities scrutinise The PGA Tour, DP World Tour, PIF joint venture?
The PGA TOUR (“PGA Tour”) and DP World Tour announced their intended partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investmen...
The fallout from the cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games by Victoria
The cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews took all stakeholders – Commonwea...
Meta’s record-breaking fine and the future of international data transfers: What does it mean for sport?
On 22 May 2023, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (“DPC”) announced the conclusion of an almost three-year long ...
Microsoft-Activision deal: UK clearance remains the last hurdle
This is a fast-moving story which is liable to develop daily. This article is up-do-date as of the date of its public...
What is the future of dispute resolution in Paralympic sport?
Recent years have produced a number of striking legal questions in Paralympic sport on issues such as classification,...
How courts assess negligence in sports injury cases: lessons from rugby, football and horseracing
Czernuska is the latest of a series of judgments determining whether injuries sustained during competitive sporting f...
Yves Jean-Bart v FIFA: Observations from a safeguarding regulation perspective
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) recently announced that it upheld an appeal by the former President of the...
Vicarious liability in amateur sport: The problem with unincorporated associations
Vicarious liability is a rule of responsibility that holds one party strictly liable for the torts (where someone has...
The future of betting cases in football: What can we learn from Ivan Toney's case?
The announcement in November 2022 that Ivan Toney had been charged with 232 breaches of The FA’s betting regulations ...
CAS, the War in Ukraine and Russian football bans
The Russian invasion of Ukraine commenced on 24 February 2022. Four days later the Bureau of the FIFA Council suspend...
Sporting succession in basketball: FIBA applies great flexibility in determining sporting successor
Sporting succession refers to the issue of whether or not a “new club” is liable for the debts and obligations of a “...
Do US courts have jurisdiction over international sports federations in match-fixing cases?
In a series of decisions with potential jurisdictional implications for international sports federations, U.S. federa...
Swiss Federal Tribunal examines limits on FIFA PSC jurisdiction in the Emiliano Sala case
This case (Swiss Federal Supreme Court ("SFT") Judgment 4A_420/2022 of March 30, 2023, Cardiff City FC v. SASP FC de ...
USA judge rules that esports is not a sport under Title IX: What now?
In February, a federal district court judge in Orlando ruled that six Florida Institute of Technology (“FIT”) student...
Advertising And Football’s 'Strong Appeal' To Children Rules - New ASA Case Provides Further Guidance
On 19 April 2023, the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) issued a ruling against BetVictor for featuring two pro...
The European Sports Model As A Vindication For UEFA? Why The ECJ Is Likely To Deviate From Advocate General’s Opinion In The European Super League Case
“The Super League is dead, long live the Super League” – that seems to be the credo of the organisers of a possible S...
Meza V. Ecuador: The Challenges Of Bringing Human Rights Claims In Sporting Disputes
On September 9, 2021, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights1 (Commission or IACHR) filed the case of Juan Jos...
UEFA Home-Grown Player Rule EU Law Challenge – Royal Antwerp FC V Royal Belgian FA
EU law has played a leading role in the governance of football following the landmark Bosman ruling of the Court...
The Future Of Footy And The Merits Of The Concussion Class Actions In The AFL
For fans of contact sports, the point of this article is direct, simple but stark: some of your childhood sporting he...
Premier League V Manchester City case – What do ‘good faith’ obligations really mean?
The widespread reporting in recent months of the alleged breaches by Manchester City FC (‘City’) of numerous Premier ...
Crypto In Sport - Key Legal Resources On NFTs, Cryptocurrencies, Fan Tokens & The Metaverse
Crypto markets have grown significantly in recent years and penetrated the sports industry in a host of different way...
LIV Golf v. PGA Tour and the Future of Professional Golf
The staid world of professional golf was upended in 2022 with the entry of LIV Golf, a circuit of invitational tourna...
Why non-EU footballers may struggle to secure a UK visa for club trials
Football players, and sportspersons, from outside the UK can face difficulties securing a visa to allow the...
Can retired footballers appear in gambling ads?
On 1 October 2022, the UK advertising codes, the UK Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Ma...
Czernuszka V King: Rugby Player Found Negligently Liable For “Revenge Tackle”
In Czernuszka v King1, Spencer J held a rugby player liable in negligence for a tackle which seriously injured her op...
Swiss Federal Tribunal Rules That Sporting Succession Is Compatible With Public Policy
The concept of sporting succession – in a nutshell, the obligation of a club succeeding a bankrupt club to settle the...
Sports Disputes And Disciplinary Procedures - Annual Review 2022/23
2022 marked a return to normalcy (for the most part) post-covid. For the sports industry, that meant events tak...
Why FIFA Banned The All India Football Federation & What It Means
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) found itself at the center of a storm in 2022 when FIFA imposed a ban on it ...
Football Law Experts Discuss The Challenges And Opportunities Of Sporting Succession
Following the launch of the Sports Law & Policy Centre's book 'Sporting Succession in Football', LawInSport and t...
Juventus FC Secures Landmark Ruling Securing Trade Mark Rights For NFTs
Juventus FC (affectionately nicknamed the “Old Lady”) has won a noteworthy ruling in its case of trade mark infringem...
FIFA's Maternity Benefits For Female Players Enforced By Football Tribunal (Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir v Lyon)
Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir (“Sara”) captain of the Icelandic national football team and Juventus player, recently secur...
What Constitutes ‘Assault’ On Football Referees & How Is It Punished? (Curran v London County FA)
In a recent case before an FA Appeal Board (Miles Curran v London County FA), a Player sprayed a referee with water f...
ASA's First Ruling Under New Gambling Ad Rules: Analysis And Implications For Sports Organizations
The Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) has issued its first ruling under the new rules that prohibit ...
An Overview Of Spain’s New Sports Law
On 22 December 2022, the Congress of Deputies approved the Law 39/2022, of 30 December, on Sport ("Law 39/22" or "New...
Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority Ruled Unconstitutional - What Happened & Why (NHBPA V Black)
Since the establishment of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), opponents of the organization—and m...
Swiss Federal Tribunal confirms the validity of CAS Anti-Doping Division proceedings as first instance tribunal
This article discusses a recent important decision1 by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (“SFT”) which confirmed the va...
How BAT Ruled On A Player Contract Affected By Russia Ukraine War (Brantley v Basketball Club UNICS)
In this article, the authors assess the recent decision of the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (BAT) in the case of Amer...
A Summary Of 2022’s Key Sports Law Cases & Regulatory Reforms From The CAS & SFT
This article summarises the key cases from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the Swiss Federal Tribun...
A Summary of Key Sports Law Cases In Australia in 2022
This is a summary of some of the leading sports law cases that arose in Australia in 2022. It is based on the author’...
Protecting trademarks in keyword advertising in India - A guide for sports organisations
The Honourable Delhi High Court (Court) in India, in the recent case of Head Digital Works Private Limited v. TicTok ...
Betting In Football: Lessons From Non-League Player’s 11 Year Suspension (The FA v Kynan Isaac)
The recent decision of the FA Independent Regulatory Commission (“Commission”) in The FA v Kynan Isaac attracted wide...
How “Amicus Curiae” Works At The Court Of Arbitration For Sport
Anybody could use a friend, including the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). An amicus curia (literally, ‘friend o...
NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy Procedure Put To The Test (The Deshaun Watson Case)
The NFL’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, has historically faced much criticism for relaxed disciplinary decisions....
Who is a ‘publisher’ in the context of defamatory material posted on a social media website? (Fairfax v Voller)
Who is a ‘publisher’ in the context of defamatory material posted on a social media website on the internet? The High...
What does the Genius v Sportradar settlement mean for sports data rights holders?
It was recently announced that the long-standing dispute between Genius Sport and Sportradar has come to an end becau...
The Standard of Proof and the Threshold for Appeal in Sports Disciplinary Cases (The FA v Imran Louza)
The decision of an Appeal Board dismissing the FA’s appeal in the case of FA v Imran Louza1 is significant for t...
Why The Nigerian National Sports Industry Policy 2022/26 Represents A Bold Statement Of Intent
Following years of discussion by the government and private sectors on how to revitalise the country's sports, the Fe...
Sports Lawyer In The Spotlight: Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith is a barrister at 11KBW Chambers in London. He practises principally in the fields of employment and dis...
Ecuador’s World Cup Player Eligibility Fight – A Review Of The Byron Castillo Case
The FIFA Men’s World Cup got underway on Sunday 20 November 2022, when Ecuador beat the host nation, Qatar, in the op...
How Have The Pitch Invasions At Everton & Manchester City Been Dealt By The FA?
In June the author wrote an article on LawInSport[1] exploring the Football Association’s (The FA) regulations in rel...
Fighting Doping In Sport: How Spain's Bureaucracy Is Undermining The Athlete Biological Passport
The introduction of World-Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) has been a significant tool in ...
The difficulties of athlete selection appeals: Key Considerations For Governing Bodies
The first part of this article, available here, considered selection appeals from the perspective of the athlete and ...
The Difficulties Of Selection, De-Selection And Selection Appeals: Key Considerations For Athletes
No matter the sport, the vast majority of professional athletes share a version of the same goal: to perform at their...
ECB Racism Disciplinary Proceedings To Be Held In Public: Open Justice In Sports Disputes
On 3 November 2022, the BBC announced that in an “unprecedented” move the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (‘ECB’) d...
How Are Bridge Transfers Being Regulated In Football Now?
I had previously written an article on LawInSport discussing bridge transfers. As a long time has passed and a lot ha...
CAS rules on retrospective application of solidarity regulations (Cagliari v Club A)
With the very recent award CAS 2021/A/8238, issued on 8 September 2022 (CAS Decision), the Court of Arbitration for S...
Improving Diversity, Equity & Inclusion In Sport – Lessons From Australia & UAE
During Australia’s 2022 National Rugby League season, seven players from the Manly Sea Eagles, a team in the National...
Key Principles On Player Contracts From The Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (Part 3 – Compensation For Wrongful Termination)
This is the third and final article in a series that explains the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal’s (BAT) jurisprudence ...
Determining Compensation For Out Of Contract Footballers: The Nathan Ferguson & Luca Murphy cases
By way of short update to the article entitled “Determining The Level Of Compensation For Out Of Contract Football Pl...
Can Football Contracts Be Changed Or Varied Mid-Term? If So, What Can Players Do About It?
In 2020, Barcelona and Frenkie De Jong agreed a contract renewal which included an additional two-year contract exten...
The FC Swift Hesperange Complaint – A Further Challenge To UEFAs Rules On New Competitions
At the end of July 2022, the Luxembourg football club Swift Hesperange – at the time of writing 2nd in the top nation...
The Harsh Reality Of Selection Disputes: Lessons From The Sebastian Temesi Commonwealth Games Case
Representing their country at a major international event is what many athletes dream of doing when they decide to pu...
When Does A Domestic Tribunal Qualify As FIFA Compliant? A Case Study Of Azerbaijan
According to the article 22 paragraph 1(b) of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP)1 FIFA...
Workplace Discrimination For Football Beliefs? Rangers Fan Makes An Unusual Claim
When does a passion for sport become a workplace issue? In McClung v Doosan, a Scottish employment tribuna...
Unfair Prejudice Claims: How The Cardiff City FC Shareholder Dispute Unfolded
Cardiff City FC has found itself in the legal press after being the subject of an unfair prejudice petition.
The cas...
Jurisdiction Disputes: When Can National Bodies Hear FIFA-Related Employment Claims?
In the field of football, employment-related disputes involving foreign players, coaches or other foreign-related fac...
Sports Lawyer In The Spotlight: Farai Razano
Farai is a Partner at Razano Attorneys, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. His practice focuses on sports law and e...
When Is A Football 'Sell On Clause' Triggered? CAS Decides in Malaga v Brighton
Those involved with football transfers will be familiar with sell-on clauses given that they are widely used in the w...
The Rules On Ambush Marketing For FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
The FIFA World Cup stimulates a frenzy of marketing activity – both official and unofficial. Qatar 2022 is unlikely t...
Negotiating athlete endorsement agreements in India
The Indian sports industry and the surrounding eco-system has undergone a substantial economic transformation in the ...
Spain’s Rugby World Cup 2023 Disqualification - Resolving Player Ineligibility Issues Ahead Of Time!
Spain have been disqualified from the Rugby World Cup for the second time consecutively, having again been found to h...
Ensuring Fair Process For Players In Sexual Assault Claims - The Jake Virtanen NHL Case
In recent years, several prominent professional athletes have been accused of sexual misconduct. For some, there appe...
The Right To Be Heard: Why The SFT Rejected A Football Club’s Appeal From CAS
A typical loan agreement with a purchase option of a football player was brought to the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamb...
Family Law Guidance For Athletes – Dealing With Continuing Disputes Over Children
This is the fifth in a series of articles exploring key family law issues facing athletes over the course of their ca...
Criminal Charges: Why Swiss Court Found Blatter & Platini Not Guilty And What Happens Next
In July 2022, a Swiss Federal Criminal Court (FCC) found former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president...
What The UK Competition Authority’s Price Fixing Investigation Means For Football Clubs & Kit Suppliers
On 7 June 2022, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its preliminary finding that Elite Sports ...
How Sports Arbitration Is Evolving In China - The New 2023 Sports Arbitration Law
On June 24, 2022, the 35th Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress adopted the...
Family Law Guidance For Athletes – The Rules On Child Arrangements Post-Separation
This is the fourth in a series of articles exploring key family law issues facing athletes over the course of their c...
What obligations do clubs owe players if suspending their contract for Covid-19 (FCSB v Planic)?
The case of FC FCSB SA v. Bogdan Planic1 is of notable interest to sports clubs, players and sports law practitioners...
Challenging FIFA’s Jurisdiction: Why Appeals To The SFT Must Be On Public Policy Grounds
In this football-related case, a national football association (the Appellant) terminated its contract with the footb...
Summary Judgements & Force Majeure: How The Premier League Recovered $213mn From PPLive
In the recent High Court case of The Football Association Premier League Limited v PPLive Sports International Limite...
Freezing Orders: A Landmark New Judgement On NFTs From UK Courts
Digital ownership of cryptoassets has brought with it an exponential growth in engagement and monetisation. Indeed, t...
Betting Errors – Paddy Power Case Highlights Importance Of Fair Exclusion Clauses
The recent English High Court case of Longley v PBB Entertainment1provides an interesting analysis of the princ...
Sports Lawyer In Spotlight: Roberto De Palma Barracco
Roberto de Palma Barracco is an attorney, mediator and arbitrator focused on the lifestyle industries - especially sp...
Not A Level Playing Field: Drafting And Interpreting Force Majeure Clauses Post Covid-19
Why are the European Professional Club Rugby v RDA Television1 and Football Association Premier Lea...
Annual Review on Sports Dispute Resolution in China
Table of Contents|closed
Table Of Contents
Part 1. Overview
Part 2. Major Updates Of Laws, Regu...
Trade Marks In Sport: Ronaldinho & Henry Case Shows How To Raise ‘Bad Faith Objections’
Bad faith has been a hot topic in UK and EU trade mark matters in recent years - not least in the sports world where ...
A Review Of LawInSport’s Football Conference 2022: Key Lessons For The Sector
As a full member of LawInSport, I regularly read articles encapsulating the essence of law in a sports context. I was...
SFT reconfirm the limited scope of ‘excessive formalism’ as a grounds of appeal
A dispute between two football clubs was first decided by the Single Judge of the FIFA Players’ Status Committee and ...
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