Court of arbitration for sport (CAS)

Big international meetings throw the mainstream spotlight not only onto sportsmen and women, but also onto the governing bodies that regulate the competition between them and onto the processes designed to ensure fair play.

During large international competitions such as the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup, dealing with disputes as to doping or other forms of cheating rapidly (making decisions whether an athlete or team can compete before it is too late) is essential. These disputes are often front page news, such as the referral to CAS of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to ban athletes from the Russian Federation. The Russian athletes’ appeal against the IOC decision not to invite them as neutral competitors was lodged at 8.30am on 6 February 2018 and resolved by CAS (in the athletes’ favour) following two days of written and oral submissions, on 9 February 2018.

Whilst for such competitions CAS establishes expedited arbitral tribunals with an emphasis on being able to render decisions quickly, outside of competition time a number of CAS cases are similar to any other commercial arbitration.

Matthew Buckle in London, considers some of these issues in more detail in this article, as well as providing an introduction to CAS and how it operates to successfully resolve sporting disputes. Click here to read the full article.