INTERNATIONAL CASE LAW REVIEW
by Luca Pastore
Italian qualified lawyer, of Counsel at Lombardi Associates, Edinburgh (UK). E-email: luca@lombardi-football.com
COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT
- Football: CAS dismissed Boca Juniors’ request to suspend the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final
(CAS Media Release)
(08.12.2018)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the request filed by the Argentinian club CA Boca Juniors to suspend the rearranged second leg of the 2018 Copa Libertadores final. Boca claimed that River Plate should have been disqualified after Boca's bus was attacked on the way to the original fixture on 24 November 2018.
- Weightlifting: the CAS imposed an eight-year ban on Tzu-Chi Lin
(CAS Media Release)
(16.11.2018)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeal filed by WADA against the decision of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC), which had banned the athlete for two years following a second anti-doping rule violation. WADA appealed this decision to the CAS, arguing that as a second offence the appropriate sanction should be an eight-year period of ineligibility.
- Football: the CAS published the decision in the case of AC Milan v UEFA
(CAS award)
(06.11.2018)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport published the reasoning of the decision issued in the case CAS 2018/A/5808 AC Milan v. UEFA.
- Boxing governance: the CAS upheld the appeal filed by Serik Konakbayev against the AIBA Election Committee
(CAS Media Release)
(30.10.2018)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered the International Boxing Association (AIBA) to include Serik Konakbayev among the presidential candidates standing for election at the next AIBA Congress. According to the findings of the CAS Panel, the Election Committee unduly refused the nominations returned on a wrong form by several federations in support of their candidate.
- Bobsleigh: the CAS anti-doping division lifted the suspension imposed on Nadezhda Sergeev
(CAS Media Release)
(08.10.2018)
The CAS anti-doping division created for the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games issued an order lifting the provisional suspension imposed on the Russian bobsleigh athlete Nadezhda Sergeeva following a positive test for Trimetazidine.
- Cycling: the CAS imposed a lifetime ban on Johan Bruyneel and Pedro Celaya Lezama and a 15-year period of ineligibility on Jose Martí Martí
(CAS Media Release)
(25.10.2018)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport issued its final decision covering three appeals filed against the decision issued by the American Arbitration Association (AAA). CAS dismissed the appeals filed by Johan Bruyneel and Jose Martí Martí and partially upheld WADA’s appeal.
CAS found that Johan Bruyneel -former manager/sporting director of various professional cycling teams- Pedro Celaya Lezama -team physician- and Jose Martí Martí -team trainer- participated in an elaborate and highly successful doping scheme.
As a result, the CAS Panel unanimously imposed a lifetime ineligibility on Bruyneel and Celaya, and a period of ineligibility of 15 years on Martí.
- Football: FIFA imposed a life-ban on referee Ibrahim Chaibou
(FIFA Media Release)
(24.01.2019)
The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee sanctioned referee Mr Ibrahim Chaibou with a life-ban from all football-related activities and a fine in the amount of CHF 200,000 for having taken bribes in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics.
- Football: normalisation committees appointed in Dominican Republic and Madagascar following governance concerns
(FIFA Media Release)
(14.11.2018)
The FIFA Bureau of the Council appointed normalisation committees for the Dominican Republic FA and the Madagascan FA, in accordance with art. 14 par. 1 (a) and art. 8 par. 2 of the FIFA Statutes.
- Basketball: Euroleague sanctioned Panathinaikos’ President Mr Dimitris Giannakopoulos
(Euroleague Media Release)
(17.11.2018)
The Euroleague Baskeball Independent Disciplinary Judge fined Dimitris Giannakopoulos and Panathinaikos Athens €30,000 following insulting media statements towards a referee. Further, as a result of the above decision, previously suspended fines of €160,000 and €250,000 have been activated.
- Football: UEFA sanctions for breach of FFP regulations
(UEFA Media Release)
(21.12.2018)
Sporting Lisbon, FK Vardar and PFC Levski Sofia all received sanctions from the Adjudicatory Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body for breaching Financial Fair Play Regulations
- Football: UEFA Club Financial Control Body has concluded settlement agreements with licensors
(SA with Albanian FA
– SA with Kazakhstan FA
– SA with Serbian FA)
(06.11.2018)
The Chief Investigator of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body concluded, for the first time, settlement agreements with licensors, i.e. the Football Association of Albania, the Football Federation of Kazakhstan, and the Football Federation of Serbia, after failure to comply with the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations.
TENNIS INTEGRITY UNIT
- Tennis: Daniele Bracciali banned for life for match-fixing offences
(TU Media Release)
(21.11.2018)
Italian tennis player Daniele Bracciali has been banned from tennis for life and fined $250,000 after being found guilty of match-fixing and associated offences.
- Tennis: life ban imposed on the Alekseenko brothers for match-fixing offences
(TU Media Release)
(15.10.2018)
The independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer Prof Richard H McLaren banned the Ukrainian twin brothers Gleb and Vadim Alekseenko for life.
The Alekseenko brothers were found guilty of multiple match-fixing and associated offences.
SWITZERLAND 
- Football: Swiss Federal Tribunal rules FIFA appeal in Guerrero case is inadmissible
(Media release)
(29.11.2018)
The Swiss Federal Tribunal declared inadmissible the appeal filed by FIFA against the CAS award imposing a 14 -month suspension on the Peruvian footballer Paolo Guerrero for doping.
FRANCE 
- Football: PSG fined € 100,000 for illegally profiling ethnic origins of youngsters
(Media Report)
(22.01.2019)
The disciplinary commission of France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel sanctioned Paris Saint-Germain with a fine of €100,000 for ‘illegally profiling ethnic origins of potential young recruits’.
ENGLAND 
- Cycling: Jess Varnish failed in her attempt to prove she was an employee of British Cycling and UK Sport
(Media report)
(17.01.2019)
Former Great Britain cyclist Jess Varnish lost the legal case initiated before an employment tribunal to prove she was an employee of British Cycling & UK Sport. Such decision represents an important win for national governing bodies, whose athletes receive tax-free funding.
- Football: referee suspended for three weeks for deciding a match kick-off with a game of rocks, paper, scissors
(Media release)
(13.11.2018)
The English FA suspended the referee Mr David McNamara for a period of 21 days for asking two captains to play rock, paper, scissors to decide the kick-off before a Women’s Super League match after he forgot his coin.
UK ANTI-DOPING
- Doping: Thomas Minns suspended for 16 months
(UKAD decisions)
(09.01.2019)
UK Anti-Doping suspended the Rugby league player Thomas Minns of Hull Kingston Rovers RFC for a period of 16 months. Minns tested positive for the presence of the prohibited substance benzoylecgonine (a metabolite of cocaine).
- Doping: UK sprinter Nigel Levine banned for four years
(UKAD decisions)
(20.11.2018)
UK Anti-Doping suspended Nigel Levine for a period of four years. The athlete tested positive for clenbuterol, following an Out-of-Competition test on 24 November 2017.
LAWS AND REGULATIONS
- CAS Code: new edition in force as of 1st January 2019
(New CAS Code)
(28.12.2018)
The Code of Sports-related Arbitration has been amended. The new edition is applicable as from 1 January 2019.
Major amendments include: three new commissions - Challenge, Legal Aid & Membership -, the possibility of requesting a public hearing (following the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the Mutu/Pechstein case), and a first instance Anti-Doping Division.
- Football: new FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations
(FIFA Anti-doping regulations)
(04.12.2018)
FIFA amended the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations. The new edition is applicable as from 14 January 2019.
- Football: UEFA announced the introduction of a third UEFA club competition
(UEFA Media Release)
(02.12.2018)
The UEFA Executive Committee approved the creation of a third UEFA club competition for the 2021–2024 competition cycle.
The format of the new competition will mirror the existing UEFA CL and EL, and feature 32 teams in the group stage.
ENGLAND
- Football: VAR to be introduced in the English Premier League
(PL news)
(15.11.2018)
Premier League clubs have agreed in principle to introduce Video Assistant Referees (VAR) to the competition in the 2019/20 season.
ALBANIA 
- Betting: Albania passes law banning sports betting and gambling
(News article)
(25.10.2018)
Albania’s parliament approved a law banning sports betting and other forms of gambling from 2019, following the Skënderbeu match-fixing scandal.
ARGENTINA 
- Football: AFA approved the regulation on the training compensation for young players
(Boletín Especial no. 5551)
(18.10.2018)
The Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA) adopted a regulation for the internal training compensation and solidarity mechanism systems, which are applicable to all AFA affiliated clubs.
DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS
- Football: the impact of Premier League over UK economy
(EY Premier League Report)
(24.01.2019)
EY released a report assessing the importance of the Premier League to the UK economy.
- Football: Deloitte released the Football Money League 2019 edition
(Deloitte report)
(24.01.2019)
Deloitte Sports Business Group published the 22nd edition of the Deloitte Football Money League, whereby they analyse the revenues generated by the top 20 clubs alongside selected others.
- Football: UEFA released the 10th edition of the European Club Footballing Landscape
(UEFA report)
(18.01.2019)
UEFA has released its tenth club licensing benchmarking report on European club football. Such financial report focuses on the 2017 financial year but also analyses the major trends of the past ten years.
- Football: case law of the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body
(UEFA case law)
(16.01.2019)
UEFA published its disciplinary case law book for cases heard between January 2018 and June 2018 by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body, as well as all the decisions of the UEFA Appeals Body and the CFCB Adjudicatory Chamber.
- Football: KPMG published the third edition of its European Champions report
(KPMG report)
(15.01.2019)
The latest edition of the European Champions report has been issued by KPMG. The report focuses on the business performances of the domestic league champions from eight of the main leagues: FC Barcelona, FC Bayern München, FC Porto, Galatasaray SK, Juventus FC, Manchester City FC, Paris Saint-Germain FC and PSV Eindhoven.
- Football: FIFA TMS released the Intermediaries in International Transfers report
(FIFA TMS Report)
(28.12.2018)
FIFA TMS published the Intermediaries in International Transfers report, which provides data and analysis covering intermediaries in international transfers.
- Sports: Sporting Intelligence published the last Global Sports Salary Survey
(Global Sports Salary Survey 2018)
(26.11.2018)
The 2018 edition of the Global Sports Salaries Report has been published by Sporting Intelligence. The report compares the ‘average’ salaries that players earned at hundreds of different clubs and teams around the world in professional sports.
- Football governance: CIES released its first report titled Governance Structures at National Association Level
(CIES report)
(22.11.2018)
The Sports Intelligence division of the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) published its first report on governance, which analyses the structures of 20 football national associations across all six confederations.
- Golf: KPMG Golf Participation Report for Europe 2018
(KPMG Golf Report)
(25.10.2018)
KPMG released the 2018 edition of its Golf Participation Report for Europe, which provides figures regarding the supply and demand trends in Europe for 2017, together with analysis and insights into Europe’s golf industry.
- Football: UEFA 2017/18 financial distribution reports
(UEFA CL financial distribution report
- UEFA EL financial distribution report)
(25.10.2018)
UEFA released information about financial distribution among clubs participating to the 2017/18 Champions League and Europa League competitions.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Promoting and Supporting Good Governance in the European Football Agents Industry
University Cologne, February 01, 2019
Programme
Erasmus+ Sport Info Day 2019
Brussels, 5 February 2019
Full Programme and Agenda
Stream on “The Economics of Football (Soccer)” as part of the 19th Annual International Conference on Sports: Economic, Management, Marketing & Social Aspects
Athens, Greece, 13-16 May 2019
Programme
Football Law 2019
Player Transfers, Agents, Politics and the Business of Football
London, 22nd & 23rd May 2019
Programme
UEFA RESEARCH GRANT PROGRAMME 2019
PUBLICATIONS
FOOTBALL COACH-RELATED DISPUTES
A Critical Analysis of the relevant CAS awards and
FIFA Players' Status Committee decisions
By Josep F. Vandellós Alamilla
Michele Colucci (ed.)
International Sports Law and Policy Bulletin 1/2018
ISBN 978-88-940689-8-6 (March 2018)
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BOOK REVIEW
DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES IN FOOTBALL
AN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Marc Cavaliero and Michele Colucci (eds.)
International Sports Law and Policy Bulletin 1/2017
ISBN 978-88-940689-7-9 (October 2017)
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PRESS RELEASE
INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SPORTS LAW
Edited by M. Colucci
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JOB VACANCIES
