On 25 and 26 October 2022, the Asser Institute in
The Hague will host the 2022 edition of the International Sports Law
Journal (ISLJ) Conference. The ISLJ is the leading academic journal in transnational sports law and governance and is proud to provide a
platform for transnational debates on the state of the field. 2022 has
put a number of complex issues and disputes on the top of the
transnational sports law agenda, which will be at the heart of the
conference.
Sports governing bodies react to Russia's invasion of Ukraine
First,
Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in February triggered a swift and
decisive reaction by a wide range of international sports governing
bodies (SGBs), leading in particular to the exclusion of Russian teams
and athletes from many international sporting competitions, including
most prominently the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. These reactions have
shown, once again, that sport is far from immune from the turbulences of
international relations and raise the question of its alleged
neutrality and apolitical nature. To engage with these issues, we have
invited Prof. Jonathan Grix (Metropolitan Manchester University) to
deliver a keynote speech and will dedicate a specific panel to
discussing the intersection between transnational sports law and
international law/relations.
Monopoly of sports governing bodies
Second, the
organization of international sports is also currently threatened by
challenges to the traditional monopoly position of international SGBs
raised under EU antitrust law. Early July 2022, the Grand Chamber of the
Court of Justice of the European Union heard two crucial cases
(International Skating Union and Superleague) concerning the
compatibility of the rules of international SGBs aimed at sanctioning
athletes and clubs who participate in unauthorized third-party
competitions. Dr. Van Rompuy (Leiden University), the driving force
behind the ISU case, will be discussing with us the potential impact of
competition law on the governance of sport and what to expect from the
pending decisions of the CJEU. Additionally, we will host two panels
dedicated to the application of competition law to sports governance,
both at an international and national level.
Human rights and mega-sporting events
Third, with
both Beijing and Qatar hosting mega-sporting events this year, it is
difficult to ignore the human rights issues raised by international
sporting competitions. A fast-growing social movement aimed at urging
the SGBs to abide by their human rights responsibilities has been
developing around the activism of some NGOs and the creation of the
Centre for Sport and Human Rights (CSHR). The CEO of the CSHR, Mary
Harvey, will be joining us to share her thoughts on the role of sports
lawyers and sports law academics in this discussion. Her intervention
will be followed by a panel dedicated to the intersections between human
rights and transnational sports law and governance.
Trans and queer participation in sporting competitions
Finally,
the question of the participation of transgender athletes in sporting
competitions has become an extremely contentious issue of debate in
recent years, especially in the United States. Furthermore,
International SGBs, such as FINA recently, have started to impose
specific requirements to the participation of trans athlete in
international competitions. Our closing panel will take a fresh look at
this question by foregrounding the way in which trans and queer
participation in sporting competitions has been accommodated in South
Asia.
Online participation available
For the first time
this year, we will allow online participation to the conference for an
affordable price. Our aim is to internationalise and diversify further
our audience and to reach people who in light of the current challenges,
be it Covid-19 or climate change, are not in a position to come in
person to The Hague.
Programme
Download the full programme.
Register HERE! (Early Bird Registration is available only until 1 October, 23:59CET)