ADR in Sport Industry

In recent years, the sports industry has undergone dramatic and transformative changes. The sharp increase in players’ transfer values, broadcasting fees for sporting events, and revenues generated from image rights has created new opportunities for the sector’s development, while at the same time giving rise to numerous disputes and complex challenges.

Today, disputes involving multi-million capital flows have become an integral part of the football industry, which in turn necessitates the continuous improvement of dispute resolution mechanisms tailored to the principles and specificities of football and other sports.

????⚖️ For quite some time now, sports arbitration has been considered the most widely used method of dispute resolution in the football world, both at the domestic and international levels. Article 15 of the statutes of FIFA, the global governing body of football, provides that all stakeholders should give priority to arbitration when choosing a method for resolving disputes.

The key features of arbitration—confidentiality, flexibility, speed, and the ability to appoint arbitrators with specialized expertise—make it particularly attractive for football players, clubs, coaches, federations, confederations, and leagues.

But what exactly is sports arbitration?

Sports arbitration can broadly be defined as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism for resolving disputes arising between subjects of sports law. It involves submitting a dispute to an impartial and neutral third party—an arbitrator—with the aim of obtaining a final and fair resolution, without unnecessary delays or excessive costs, based on lex sportiva or other applicable legal rules, by an independent arbitral tribunal.

International practice shows that a wide range of disputes in football can be resolved through sports arbitration, including:

• Disputes arising from players’ employment contracts
• Disputes related to transfer agreements
• Disputes concerning image rights
• Disputes between clubs and professional coaches
• Disputes related to decisions of federations
• Disputes involving sponsors
• Disputes over broadcasting rights
• Disputes arising in the context of anti-doping regulations
• Disputes concerning alleged violations of fair play principles

A number of arbitral decisions have had a significant impact on the development of global sport, both at local and international levels. For instance, the 2014 case of Chelsea Football Club v. UEFA addressed key issues related to the basis of sanctions. In the same year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) further developed the concept of bans in football activity in connection with the “Suárez–Chiellini” incident during the FIFA World Cup. Additionally, the 2021 CAS case involving FC Noravank proved to be groundbreaking for Armenian football.