Editor’s note: This report compiles all relevant news, events and
materials on International and European Sports Law based on the daily coverage
provided on our twitter feed @Sportslaw_asser. You are
invited to complete this survey via the comments section below, feel free to
add links to important cases, documents and articles we might have
overlooked.
The Headlines
The Diarra
ruling of the Tribunal of Charleroi
On 19 January 2017, the Hainaut Commercial Tribunal –
Charleroi rendered its decision on the lawsuit filed by the football player
Lassana Diarra against FIFA and the Belgian FA (URBSFA) for damages caused by
not being able to exercise the status of a professional football player during
the entire 2014/2015 season. The lawsuit is linked to the decision, rendered by
the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) on April 2015, to support Lokomotiv’s
decision to terminate the player’s contract and to order Diarra to pay Lokomotiv
the amount of EUR 10,500,000 for having breached his contract. According to the
plaintiff, Diarra’s opportunity to be recruited by Sporting Charleroi was
denied due to the club being potentially considered jointly liable for Diarra’s
compensation pursuant to Article 17 (2) RSTP. The Belgian court held strongly
that “when the contract is terminated by the club, the player must have the
possibility to sign a new contract with a new employer, without restrictions to
his free movement”. This case highlighted, once again, the need to read
the RSTP in the light of EU law. Moreover, the decision is laying further
ground for broader challenges to the RSTP on the basis of EU law (for a deeper
insight into the Diarra ruling, see the recent blog written by our senior researcher
Antoine Duval)
The IAAF
Decision on three of its employees in corruption linked to the Russian doping
scandal
On 31 January 2017, IAAF Ethic Board released its decision on allegations
of corruption linked to the Russian doping scandal involving three of its
employees, Nick Davies, Jane Boulter-Davies and Pierre-Yves Garnier,. The
decision of the Panel stems from an email released by the media, which was sent
by Nick Davies, then IAAF’s Deputy General Secretary and Director of
Communications, to Papa Massata Diack, marketing consultant to the IAAF and son
of the IAAF’s then President Lamine Diack, on 19 July 2013, shortly before the
commencing of the IAAF World Championships in Moscow. In the email Nick Davies
outlined a plan to minimise the damage provoked by the news related to the
positive doping tests of a number of Russian athletes, in light of the imminent
IAAF World Championships. During the investigation commissioned by the Ethic
Board, it emerged that Nick Davies received sums of money for corrupt purposes
in relation to the aforementioned plan and that he subsequently concealed the
remuneration; that his wife, Jane Boulter-Davies, misled the investigation
carried out on behalf of the Ethic Board; and that Pierre-Yves Garnier, Medical
and Scientific Senior Manager, received sums of money to the same end. The
Panel, therefore, banned Mr Davies from his position at the IAAF, and suspended Mrs
Boulter-Davies and Mr. Garnier from their IAAF positions for a period of 6
months.
CAS award on UEFA
Membership of Football Federation of Kosovo
In the dispute between the Football Association of
Serbia (FAS) and UEFA over the admission of the Football Federation of Kosovo
(FFK) as the 55th member association of UEFA, the CAS sided with UEFA and dismissed the appeal filed by
the FAS. The CAS award confirms the FFK’s
admission as a member association of UEFA. The CAS Panel analysed Article 5(1)
UEFA Statues, which requires the recognition by the United Nations (UN) as an
independent state in order for a football associations situated in the
continent of Europe to obtain the membership of UEFA. It held that the
provision has to be interpreted as requiring that the territory in which the
football federation is located be recognised by the majority of the UN member
states as an “independent state”. Given that this prerequisite was fulfilled
with respect to FFK, FAS’ appeal was dismissed.
Ruling of the Commercial
Court of Zurich on FIFA's responsibility for human rights violations in Qatar
Finally, on 3 January 2017, the Commercial Court of
the Canton of Zurich dismissed the lawsuit filed against FIFA by the Dutch trade union FNV, the
Bangladeshi Free Trade Union Congress, the Bangladesh Building and Wood Workers
Federation and the Bangladeshi citizen Nadim Shariful Alam for alleged
human rights violations in connection with the 2022 FIFA
World Cup in Qatar. The
plaintiffs asserted that FIFA's legal responsibility for those violations
arose out of FIFA's inaction to remedy them. First, when it selected Qatar as host
of the 2022 FIFA World Cup without simultaneously demanding minimum human
rights and labour rights for World Cup-related migrant workers. Second, when it
failed and still is failing to take responsibility for the fate of
migrant workers by not demanding Qatar to reform its labour system.
Sports Law Related Decisions
Official Documents and Press Releases
In the news
Doping
Football
Other
Books
Academic Materials
Blogs
Asser International Sports Law Blog
Law in Sport
Others
Upcoming Events
- 8 March - Discrimination Against Women in Sport Conference: How to continue narrowing the discrimination gap, Preston, UK
- 6 April – Sportaccord Convention 2017 (“Lawaccord”) - Joint Session with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Aarhus, Denmark
- 28-29 April - 2017 Macolin Anti-Doping Summit: A Fresh Look at the Science, Legal, and Policy Aspects of Anti-Doping, Swiss National Sports Centre, Macolin (Magglingen) Switzerland
- 29-30 June – Sport & EU 12th Annual Conference, Molde University College, Molde, Norway