Sanctioning footballers for social media posts: PSG & Neymar v UEFA

Since the seminal case in England of The FA v Ryan Babel in January 2011[1], in which the first case of social media misconduct for which charges were brough in English football, the English Football Association (The FA) have had to address improper conduct by participants (principally players) via social media on a number of occasions.  Yet, given there is no recourse to the highest sport tribunal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), from rulings of The FA and their judicial bodies, it wasn’t until earlier this year that we had a ruling from the CAS on this growing area of regulatory concern for governing bodies.

In Paris Saint-Germain & Neymar Da Silva Santos Junior v. Union des Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA)[2] one of the most famous football players in the world, Neymar, brought an appeal to CAS against a decision by UEFA to ban him for comments he made in an Instagram post about the match officials following a Champions League match his team PSG lost to Manchester United in March 2019, in which he was not playing.

This article will build on a previous publication by the authors on social media regulation in sport from 2015[3] by analysing in-depth the Neymar CAS decision in light of other recent cases brought by both UEFA and The FA, comparing the approaches and highlighting key trends. The authors shall focus on “non-aggravated” instances of social media misconduct, which are those that do not make a reference, whether express or implied, to what is more commonly known as a “protected characteristic”.[4][5] Specifically, it looks at:

• The facts and the UEFA Proceedings
• Relevant regulations
• Previous UEFA rulings on social media misconduct
• Decisive reasoning in the Neymar CAS Award
• The approach of the English FA to social media misconduct
• Social media posts directed towards match officials
• Social media posts directed at other parties
• Key takeaways and concluding remarks