Editor's note: This report compiles the most relevant legal
news, events and materials on International and European Sports Law based on
the daily coverage provided on our twitter feed @Sportslaw_asser.
The Headlines
Coronavirus Pandemic Takes
Over Sports
Since the last monthly
report, the coronavirus pandemic has completely taken over the headlines and
has had enormous impacts on the sports field. The most significant of these
impacts so far was the rather slow (see here and here) decision by the IOC to move the Tokyo 2020
Olympic Games to 2021 after a widespread push among athlete
stakeholders to do so. Concerns were raised that besides the wellbeing
of the participants, athletes under lockdowns would not have the access to the
training facilities, meaning preparations for the Games would suffer. The IOC has
already started its new planning for Tokyo
2021 and sees this new opportunity to be ‘an Olympic flame’ at the end of a
‘dark tunnel’ for the entire world.
Besides the Olympics, football
has also experienced colossal effects as this crisis landed right as leagues
were approaching the end of their season. In this context, FIFA has released specific guidelines on player
contracts and transfer windows, which has included extending player
contracts to the new postponed end of season dates. It has also organized a
working group on COVID-19, which has already made recommendations to postpone all men and
women’s international matches that were to be played during the June 2020
window. Earlier in March, UEFA had already announced that the EURO 2020 was also postponed by 12
months and has also recently approved guidelines on domestic competitions. These guidelines place
emphasis on ‘sporting merit’ and urge ‘National Associations and Leagues to
explore all possible options to play all top domestic competitions giving
access to UEFA club competitions to their natural conclusion’. Nevertheless,
UEFA also emphasizes that the health of all stakeholders must remain the top
priority.
In the end, numerous sport
federations have also had to amend their calendars due to the pandemic (see UCI and FIBA) and a variety of sport
stakeholders have been confronted with immense financial strain (e.g. football, tennis and cycling). For example, UEFA has
acted preemptively in releasing club benefit payments to try to alleviate the
economic pressure faced by clubs. There have also been efforts to support
athletes directly (e.g. FIG and ITF). All in all, the social
and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on sport have been
unprecedented and will require creative solutions while continuing to place
public health as the top priority.
Platini’s ECtHR Appeal
Falls Flat
There have also been a few
other stories that have (understandably) been overshadowed by the pandemic. One
of these include Michel Platini’s unsuccessful appeal to the ECtHR challenging
his 2015 football ban. The ECtHR’s decision concerned the
admissibility of his appeal and in the end found it to be ‘manifestly
ill-founded’. This is because he failed to raise his procedural rights concerns
under Article 6 (1) ECHR in his proceedings at the Swiss Federal Tribunal. Besides
rejecting his other claims based on Article 7 and 8 ECHR, the ECtHR decision also
touched upon the issue of CAS’ procedural and institutional independence. In
doing so, it referred to its Pechstein decision and once more affirmed
that the CAS is sufficiently independent and impartial (see para 65), further
giving credence to this notion from its case law. However, there are still concerns on this matter as was highlighted in the
Pechstein dissent. Overall, the decision indicates
that the ECtHR is willing to give the CAS the benefit of the doubt so long as
it sufficiently takes into account the ECHR in its awards.
Mark Dry – UKAD Dispute
In February, Mark Dry was suspended by UKAD after a decision of the National Anti-Doping
Panel (NADP) Appeal Tribunal for four years after having given a ‘false
account’ in order to ‘subvert the Doping Control process’. Specifically, Dry
had told anti-doping authorities that he had been out fishing after he had
missed a test at his residence. After further investigation, Dry admitted that
he had forgotten to update his whereabouts while he was actually visiting his
parents in Scotland and in panic, had told anti-doping authorities that he had
been out fishing. Following the decision of the NADP Appeal Tribunal, athlete
stakeholders have argued the four-year ban was disproportionate in this case.
In particular, Global Athlete contended that Whereabouts
Anti-Doping Rule Violations only occur in cases where an athlete misses three
tests or filing failures within a year. Furthermore, even if Dry had ‘tampered
or attempted to tamper’, a four-year sanction is too harsh. Subsequently, UKAD responded
with a statement, arguing that
‘deliberately providing false information’ is ‘a serious breach of the rules’
and that the UKAD NADP Appeal Tribunal ‘operates independently’. In light of
the mounting pressure, Witold Bańka, WADA President, also responded
on Twitter that he is ‘committed to ensuring that athletes’ rights are upheld under the World
Anti-Doping Code’. More...