Court of Arbitration for Sport to Host the Sports Law Arbitration Moot (SLAM) Grand Finals 2026
LawInSport and the Organising Committee of the 7th Edition of the Sports Law Arbitration Moot Competition (“SLAM”) are delighted to announce that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) is returning as the host of the Grand Finals for the competition.
As a result of this association, the quarter finalists, semi-finalists and finalists of SLAM will have the chance to argue their cases before CAS arbitrators in the same arbitral setting where these disputes are heard daily, at the CAS (Lausanne, Switzerland) on 23 & 24 April 2025.
SLAM is a competition organised to promote greater knowledge of the ins and outs of international sports arbitration for students, the go to dispute resolution mechanism in the sector.
SLAM is open to all law students across the world, and aims to be diverse in its student and judging base. To ensure that financial obstacles do not prevent students from receiving the exposure to sports law through the competition, deserving students are provided with financial assistance for both the registration fee as well as the costs of appearing in the in-person rounds of the competition (if they advance) where there is demonstrated financial need.
In the 6th Edition, SLAM saw:
- 50+ teams enter from 20+ countries
- 70+ CAS Arbitrators & 50+ advocates judged the competition
- The 8 teams in quarter-finals came from 6 countries
“I am so pleased for SLAM to be returning to CAS for another edition,” said Sean Cottrell, CEO and co-founder of LawInSport, “The support of CAS for SLAM, in providing us with access to the highest quality working venue for sports arbitration in the world, will enhance the students’ SLAM experience, making it as realistic as possible, and as a result the 2026 event should be a SLAM dunk!”
“The CAS is once again delighted to host the next edition of the SLAM finals in 2026,” said Matthieu Reeb, CAS Director General, “Enthusiasm for this event grows year after year, and I have also noticed the strong interest among CAS arbitrators in supervising this competition. The SLAM and the CAS can thus continue to promote the values of sports arbitration to future sports lawyers.”
To register a team, please click here.
To register your interest as a judge for the competition, please register here.
For more information on the competition, please visit here.
About SLAM
SLAM is a not-for-profit sports law moot court competition focused on arbitration of real-life sports disputes. SLAM is the only sports law moot using exclusively CAS arbitrators (including the leading CAS arbitrators) to serve as judges of its main oral rounds and its hypotheticals for the competition are drawn from real life cases such as disputes relating to football, safeguarding, anti-doping and governance.
SLAM has been designed to make sports arbitration more inclusive and diverse, so that no matter where you are located or your financial circumstances you will be able to participate. SLAM was founded in 2019 by SportLex - Sports Law Institute (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and has been supported by LawInSport since inception. SLAM has been a LawInSport event since 2021.
The SLAM Organising Committee is:
- Manan Agrawal, Director of SLAM & Deputy Director of Content, LawInSport
- Jeffrey Benz, Attorney, Barrister, Arbitrator, Mediator, JAMS/4 New Square Chambers/Court of Arbitration for Sport & Judging Director of SLAM
- Sean Cottrell, CEO & Co-Founder, LawInSport
- Blaz Tomazin Bolcar, founder of SportLaw and co-founder of SLAM
About CAS
The Court of Arbitration for Sport, a Swiss institution independent of any sports organization, was created in 1984 and provides world-leading services to facilitate the settlement of sports-related disputes through arbitration or mediation by means of procedural rules adapted to the specific needs of the sports world, using knowledgeable arbitrators and mediators. The CAS has nearly 400 arbitrators from more than 90 countries, chosen for their specialist knowledge of arbitration and sports law. Around 900 cases are registered by the CAS every year.
For more information on CAS, please visit here.
About LawInSport
LawInSport is the world leading sports law knowledge hub and global community that provides practically focused expert analysis and commentary on the latest legal developments in sport. LawInSport collaborates with our community of over 30,000 lawyers, sports executives, sports administrators, athletes, coaches, academics and students and their organisations helping them to “understand the rules of the game”™
Visit LawInSport here.
