Sports Law & Practice

Self-regulation is the necessary aspect that characterises the existence of two of the most important sporting governing bodies in the world: FIFA & UEFA. Their particular insistence on protecting self-regulation has been misinterpreted by many commentators and stakeholders in Greece. As a result, Greek football is now fast approaching a word-wide embarrassment. 

I promised my readers, in a previous post, that I will offer discrimination in sport the attention it deserves. I will also ensure that my readers are able to appreciate an insight that usually does not become available to the public.  I am now looking at a case which involves a female professional in football. The opponent is a governing body and the legal basis of the matter concerns sex discrimination in sport. The issues are many and very important for the future of self-governance in sport. The outcome of this matter, will probably expose the dark side of football governance and the stereotypes that continue to exist in this environment.  I hope that this case would encourage more complainants to come forward. Football is not a privilege for the few. Its governance requires transparency and equality. I hope a change could be imminent. Dr Gregory Ioannidis 26 May 2013

Discrimination in sport is a very important area of the discipline of sports law and deserves special recognition. It may give rise to race discrimination and sex discrimination. The examples from the world of sports are far too many to be ignored and it is my intention to commence today a series of different posts that will critically analyse all pertinent issues to the matter. In doing so, I would also like to invite all of you to contribute to the discussion and, where possible, to suggest solutions.

We heard this week that a football agent is challenging UEFA's Regulations of Financial Fair Play [FFP]. From the relevant press release, we identified the main arguments and we intend to fully analyse them in due course.  In summary, the football agent is claiming that the UEFA FFP Regulations violate certain rights and have the effect of restricting the income of football agents. The basis of the complaint relates to the argument that such regulations are anti-competitive.