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The Asser International Sports Law Centre is part of the T.M.C. Asser Instituut

International and European Sports Law – Monthly Report – April 2017. By Tomáš Grell

 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 CAS award in RFC Seraing v. FIFA

On 10 March 2017, FIFA published a short press release which praised the long-awaited award delivered by the CAS in the appeal of the Belgian football club RFC Seraing against FIFA’s decision. The French version of the award is now available on the CAS’s website.

The dispute in question emerged from agreements concluded between RFC Seraing and Doyen Sports Investments Limited, a private investment company known for its engagement in the acquisition of professional football players’ economic rights (Doyen). These agreements allowed Doyen to (i) influence the independence and the policy of the Belgian club; and (ii) receive an indemnity payable in connection with the future transfer of certain players. In September 2015, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee held that by entering into these agreements, RFC Seraing violated Articles 18bis and 18ter of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) prohibiting the third-party influence on clubs and the third-party ownership of players’ economic rights. As a result, the Belgian club was banned from registering players on a national and international level for four consecutive registration periods and obliged to pay a fine of CHF 150,000.

On appeal, the CAS Panel has confirmed that Articles 18bis and 18ter RSTP are valid under European law and Swiss law. Having considered the sanction imposed by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee on RFC Seraing disproportionate, the CAS Panel reduced the transfer ban from four to three consecutive registration periods. For an in-depth analysis of the award, we invite you to read the recent blog written by our senior researcher Mr Antoine Duval.

The CAS award in Olga Abramova v. International Biathlon Union

On 1 January 2016, WADA prohibited the use of meldonium for the first time. A few days later, Ms Olga Abramova, a Russian-born Ukrainian biathlete, underwent an in-competition doping control which revealed the presence of meldonium in her body. An independent investigation was conducted by the Anti-Doping Hearing Panel (ADHP) of the International Biathlon Union. On 14 November 2016, the ADHP rendered a decision in which (i) Ms Abramova was found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation (meldonium); and (ii) a one-year period of ineligibility was imposed on her. Eventually, Ms Abramova appealed the said decision before the CAS.

In its press release dated 19 April 2017, the CAS announced that the appeal filed by Ms Abramova had been partially upheld. The CAS Panel has found to its comfortable satisfaction that Ms Abramova fulfilled her obligation to ensure that meldonium did not enter her body after 1 January 2016 (i.e. the date when meldonium was added to the list of prohibited substances). In other words, Ms Abramova ‘could not reasonably have known or suspected even with the exercise of utmost caution that meldonium could still be detected in her blood after 1 January 2016’. Accordingly, the CAS Panel has cancelled the one-year period of ineligibility imposed on Ms Abramova. It should be noted, however, that, in accordance with WADA Guidelines, the CAS Panel has confirmed the disqualification of any results achieved by Ms Abramova between 10 January 2016 and 3 February 2016.

France investigates potential corruption linked to the selection procedure for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup

Following the United States and Switzerland, France has recently become the third country to open a criminal investigation into potential corruption relating to the selection procedure for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup finals which are scheduled to take place in Russia and Qatar respectively. The Parquet National Financier, a French authority responsible for law enforcement against serious financial crime, has reportedly interviewed the former FIFA President Mr Joseph Blatter. The former UEFA President Mr Michel Platini, who admitted in the past that he had eventually decided to cast his vote for Qatar following a lunch with the former French President Mr Nicolas Sarkozy and senior Qatari officials, has not been interrogated by French authorities yet.

Sports Law Related Decisions

Official Documents and Press Releases

In the news

Doping

Football 

Other

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 International Sports Law Journal, April 2017, Volume 16, Issue 3

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Asser International Sports Law Blog | International and European Sports Law – Monthly Report – March 2017. By Tomáš Grell

Asser International Sports Law Blog

Our International Sports Law Diary
The Asser International Sports Law Centre is part of the T.M.C. Asser Instituut

International and European Sports Law – Monthly Report – March 2017. By Tomáš Grell

 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 CAS award in Joseph S. Blatter v. FIFA

In the first half of March, the CAS published its long-awaited award in the arbitration procedure between FIFA’s former President Mr Joseph S. Blatter and FIFA itself. The Panel dismissed the appeal filed by Mr Blatter against the decision rendered by the FIFA Appeal Committee on 16 February 2016. As a result, Mr Blatter remains banned from taking part in any football-related activity at national and international level for six years as of 8 October 2015.

The dispute in question concerned (i) a payment of CHF 2,000,000 made by FIFA to Mr Michel Platini in early 2011 allegedly remunerating work performed by Mr Platini for FIFA between January 1999 and June 2002; and (ii) Mr Blatter’s alleged authorization which entitled Mr Platini to receive credit towards his FIFA ExCo pension fund for his service to FIFA from 1998 to 2002. With regard to the former, the Panel held that assuming there actually had been an oral agreement between Mr Blatter and Mr Platini dating back to 1998, such an agreement would nevertheless have been superseded by the written employment contract signed in August 1999 (according to that contract, Mr Platini were to be remunerated ‘only’ CHF 300,000 a year). Consequently, the Panel concluded that there was no contractual basis for the payment of CHF 2,000,000 in favour of Mr Platini. In respect of the second point of contention, namely the contribution towards Mr Platini’s FIFA ExCo pension fund, the Panel held that Mr Platini was simply not entitled to receive such a contribution for his service to FIFA from 1998 to 2002, as he became a member of the FIFA Executive Committee only in 2002.

The CAS award in Seraing FC v. FIFA 

The dispute between the Belgian football club Seraing FC and FIFA has its roots in the decision rendered by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee in September 2015. In this decision, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee imposed a transfer ban (four consecutive registration periods) and a fine of CHF 150,000 on Seraing FC for violating Articles 18bis and 18ter of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players which prohibit the third-party influence on clubs and the third-party ownership of players’ economic rights (TPO) respectively. The Belgian club challenged the said decision (as confirmed by the FIFA Appeal Committee) before the CAS.

In its press release dated 10 March 2017, FIFA expressed its content with the award delivered by the CAS. According to FIFA, ‘the CAS has recognized and confirmed the validity of FIFA’s ban on TPO, which was adopted in order to preserve the independence of clubs and players in matters of recruitment and transfer, and to ensure the integrity of matches and competitions’. The CAS has not yet published the award, nor has it issued any statement in this regard.

WADA calls upon athletes and other persons to ‘Speak Up!’ 

On 9 March 2017, WADA launched a new digital platform called ‘Speak Up!’, which seeks to encourage athletes and others to come forward and report (i) alleged Anti-Doping Rule Violations under the World Anti-Doping Code (Code); (ii) non-compliance violations under the Code; or (iii) any act or omission that could undermine the fight against doping in sport. On this occasion, WADA’s Director General, Mr Olivier Niggli, stated that ‘WADA’s independent Pound and McLaren Investigations, which were both triggered by whistleblowers, highlighted the importance of these individuals to the Agency and to clean sport on the whole’. The platform is accessible via a secure app for iPhone and Android phones.

 

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Official Documents and Press Releases

In the news

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Football

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Asser International Sports Law Blog | New Event! Governing European football: What role for the European Union? - 16 December - Brussels

Asser International Sports Law Blog

Our International Sports Law Diary
The Asser International Sports Law Centre is part of the T.M.C. Asser Instituut

New Event! Governing European football: What role for the European Union? - 16 December - Brussels

Join us for a round table co-organized by GLawNet and the Asser Institute at the Campus Brussels of the Maastricht University (Avenue de Tervueren 153, 1150 Brussels) just one day after the publication of the Opinion of Advocate General Rantos in the European Super League (ESL) case. The discussion between academics and stakeholders will focus on the role played by the EU, as well as the role it ought to play, in determining the way football is organised and governed.


In 2021, the announcement of the creation of a breakaway European Super League (ESL), as well as the drama of its early demise, stunned the world.  Since then, the company behind the ESL and UEFA (as well as FIFA) are locked into a legal battle that will soon come to an end at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Following the preliminary questions raised by a Spanish court, the CJEU will weigh in on whether UEFA and FIFA breached EU competition law with their attempts to thwart the emergence of the ESL. It will not be the first time that the governing bodies of football, both Swiss associations, face scrutiny before the EU courts - many will remember the 1995 Bosman ruling. However, this time around various stakeholders and observers are calling for the EU to not only referee this particular dispute, but to as well start playing a stronger governance role by regulating European football.


Programme:

15:00 – 15:05 Opening: Mariolina Eliantonio (Maastricht University)

15:05 – 16:30 - Roundtable: Governing European Football: What role for the European Union?
Moderator: Carlo Colombo (Maastricht University)

16:30 Reception


This is an In-Person event only and will take place at the Campus Brussels of the Maastricht University (Avenue de Tervueren 153, 1150 Brussels). If you wish to attend, please register HERE.


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