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 – February 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 Hakan Çalhanoglu v. Trabzonspor FC

The dispute between the Turkish football player Hakan Çalhanoğlu and the Turkish club Trabzonspor FC dates back to April 2013, when the latter lodged a claim before the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber ('FIFA DRC') alleging that, by signing a contract with the German club Karlsruher SC, Hakan Çalhanoğlu breached the terms of his employment contract (with Trabzonspor FC) without just cause. In January 2016, the FIFA DRC upheld the claims advanced by Trabzonspor FC and imposed a four-month period of ineligibility on the Turkish international. Both the player and the club decided to appeal the FIFA DRC decision before the CAS. In its press release dated 2 February 2017, the CAS reports that it has delivered its award which confirms the four-month ban imposed on Hakan Çalhanoglu by the FIFA DRC (provisionally suspended by the CAS upon the request made by Hakan Çalhanoglu) and orders the Turkish international to pay Trabzonspor FC the sum of EUR 100,000.

The CAS award concerning Russian athlete Mariya Savinova-Farnosova

On 10 February 2017, the CAS rendered its award in the ordinary arbitration procedure between the International Association of Athletics Federations ('IAAF'), the Russian Athletics Federation and Russian 800 metres runner Mariya Savinova-Farnosova. The CAS held that, during the period between 26 July 2010 and 19 August 2013, Ms. Savinova-Farnosova was engaged in using doping, and thus violated Rule 32 (2) (b) of the IAAF Competition Rules. Consequently, the CAS imposed a four-year period of ineligibility on Ms. Savinova-Farnosova, starting from 24 August 2015. In addition, all results achieved by her in the respective period were annulled and she must now return her gold medals from the London 2012 Summer Olympics and the Daegu 2011 IAAF World Championships.

The CAS rejected the urgent requests for provisional measures filed by five Russian cross country skiers 

On 21 February 2017, the CAS refused to order provisional measures requested by five Russian cross country skiers, namely Evgeniy Belov, Alexander Legkov, Alexey Petukhov, Evgenia Shapovalova and Maxim Vylegzhanin, in the appeal arbitration procedure against the International Ski Federation ('FIS'). The athletes requested the CAS to stay the execution of the decisions adopted by the FIS Doping Panel on 25 January 2017 (Evgeniy Belov and Alexander Legkov) and on 6 February 2017 (Alexey Petukhov, Evgenia Shapovalova and Maxim Vylegzhanin) respectively. It is worth recalling that the FIS Doping Panel provisionally suspended the athletes in question on account of the evidence presented in Part II of the McLaren Independent Investigation Report, which unveiled that doping samples of several Russian medallists at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics may have been manipulated.

The International Olympic Committee modified the Host City Contract 2024 

In its press release dated 28 February 2017, the International Olympic Committee ('IOC') communicated that, as part of the implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020, it is making specific changes to the Host City Contract 2024 with regard to human rights, anti-corruption and sustainable development. The IOC President Thomas Bach stated that ''this latest step is another reflection of the IOC's commitment to embedding the fundamental values of Olympism in all aspects of the Olympic Games.'' Although the Host City of the 2024 Summer Olympics is scheduled to be announced only in September this year, it is now clear that, be it either Los Angeles or Paris (as Budapest has recently withdrawn its bid), the it will have to abide by additional range of human rights obligations.

 

Sports Law Related Decisions

Official Documents and Press Releases


In the news 

Doping

Football 

Other

 

Books 

 

Academic Articles

Blogs

Asser International Sports Law Blog

Law in Sport 

Others


Upcoming Events

Comments are closed
Asser International Sports Law Blog | International and European Sports Law – Monthly Report – June and July 2019 - 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 – June and July 2019 - 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 European Court of Justice finds that rule of a sports association excluding nationals of other Member States from domestic amateur athletics championships may be contrary to EU law

On 13 June 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered a preliminary ruling at the request of the Amtsgericht Darmstadt (Local Court Darmstadt, Germany) filed in the course of the proceedings involving Mr Daniele Biffi, an Italian amateur athlete residing in Germany, and his athletics club TopFit based in Berlin, on the one hand, and the German athletics association Deutscher Leichtathletikverband, on the other. The case concerned a rule adopted by the German athletics association under which nationals of other Member States are not allowed to be awarded the title of national champion in senior amateur athletics events as they may only participate in such events outside/without classification. The ECJ’s task was to decide whether or not the rule in question adheres to EU law.

The ECJ took the view that the two justifications for the rule in question put forward by the German athletics association did not appear to be founded on objective considerations and called upon the Amtsgericht Darmstadt to look for other considerations that would pursue a legitimate objective. In its judgment, the ECJ analysed several important legal questions, including amongst others the applicability of EU law to amateur sport or the horizontal applicability of European citizenship rights (for detailed analysis of the judgment, please see our blog written by Thomas Terraz).

Milan not featuring in this season’s edition of Europa League following a settlement with UEFA

On 28 June 2019, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rendered a consent award giving effect to a settlement agreement between UEFA and the Milan Football Club, under which the Italian club agreed to serve a one-year ban from participation in UEFA club competitions as a result of its breaches of UEFA’s financial fair play regulations over the 2015/2016/2017 and the 2016/2017/2018 monitoring periods, while the European football’s governing body agreed to set aside previous decisions of the Investigatory and Adjudicatory Chamber of its Club Financial Control Body which had found Milan guilty of the respective breaches.   

This was not the first intervention of the CAS related to Milan’s (non-)compliance with UEFA’s financial fair play regulations. In July 2018, the CAS annulled the decision of the Adjudicatory Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body of 19 June 2018 which was supposed to lead to the exclusion of the Italian club from UEFA club competitions for which it would otherwise qualify in the next two seasons (i.e. 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons). Following such intervention of the CAS – which concerned the 2015/2016/2017 monitoring period – it may have appeared that Milan would eventually manage to escape a ban from participation in UEFA club competitions for breaches of UEFA’s financial fair play regulations. However, Milan’s case was again referred to the Adjudicatory Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body in April 2019 – this time its alleged breaches of UEFA’s financial fair play regulations concerned the 2016/2017/2018 monitoring period – and such referral apparently forced Milan into negotiations with UEFA which led to the settlement agreement ratified by the CAS.      

Swiss Federal Tribunal gives Caster Semenya a glimmer of hope at first but then stops her from running at the IAAF World Championships in Doha

Caster Semenya’s legal team brought an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal in late May against the landmark ruling of the CAS which gave the IAAF the green light to apply its highly contentious Eligibility Regulations for Female Classification (Athlete with Difference of Sexual Development) preventing female athletes with naturally elevated levels of testosterone from participating in certain athletic events unless they take medication to supress such levels of testosterone below the threshold of five nmol/L for a continuous period of at least six months. The appeal yielded some positive partial results for Caster Semenya early on as the Swiss Federal Tribunal ordered the IAAF on 3 June 2019 to suspend the implementation of the contested regulations. However, the Swiss Federal Tribunal overturned its decision at the end of July which means that Caster Semenya is no longer able to run medication-free and this will most likely be the case also when the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships kick off in Doha in less than one month’s time. The procedural decisions adopted by the Swiss Federal Tribunal thus far have no impact on the merits of Caster Semenya’s appeal.

 

Sports Law Related Decisions


Official Documents and Press Releases

CAS

FIFA 

IAAF

IOC

UEFA

WADA

Other

 

In the news

Doping 

Football

Other

 

Academic Materials

Books

International Sports Law Journal

Other

 

Blog

Verfassungsblog: FIFA and human rights symposium

Asser International Sports Law Blog

Law in Sport

 

Other

Upcoming Events

Comments are closed