UEFA’s commitment to fostering positive relations with football fans is reinforced by a new Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) practical guide compiled by UEFA in partnership with Supporters Direct Europe (SD Europe).
Guinea
The Bureau of the FIFA Council has decided to appoint a normalisation committee for the Guinean Football Association (FGF) following a series of irregularities that took place during the electoral process of the FGF. In order to guarantee that the FGF can hold transparent and fair elections as well as to help restore trust amongst all football stakeholders in Guinea, the normalisation committee’s mandate will include the following tasks:
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Coordination Commission will undertake its latest review of Birmingham 2022 preparations later this week.
The Coordination Commission (CoCom) is responsible for delivery oversight of the Commonwealth Games and tasked with monitoring the Games to ensure it is delivered to scope, schedule and budget.
The 52 Members of the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) today unanimously voted to support the proposal for a biennial FIFA World Cup.
The 13th CAF Extraordinary General Assembly met in Cairo, Egypt today. The meeting was attended by Minister of Sport and Youth in Egypt, Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe and presidents from CAF Member Associations.
A meeting of the IWF Executive Board yesterday considered the written legal opinion sent by the independent IWF Legal Commission which made it clear the proper legal foundations for the planned IWF Elections had not yet been fully complied. Due to this reason the IWF Executive Board decided, that the Electoral Congress, scheduled for 20-21 December, will not therefore see voting take place on those days. However, the IWF wishes to move forward by holding a General Congress with all other points on the original agenda on 20-21 December 2021. Therefore, preparations will move forward with the same conditions as it was communicated by the IWF before.
A fan led review into English football has called for an independent regulator to stop it “lurching from crisis to crisis”.
Former sports minister Tracey Crouch chairs the review and told BBC Sport “This is a huge opportunity for football. We've seen football lurching from crisis to crisis over the past decade and unfortunately we haven't had the right levels of regulation in place to stop that from happening.” The review has commissioned by the Government, and it is understood that they would support the idea of an independent regulator.
Statement from the World Players Association:
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) meets in Paris today and tomorrow and appears certain to once again avoid urgently needed governance reforms to address the escalating crisis facing the global anti-doping effort.
SA Rugby and SA Rugby Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus have advised the independent misconduct committee and World Rugby that they have both withdrawn their notices of appeal to the misconduct decision and sanction issued by the independent disciplinary committee on 17 November, 2021.
The Innovation in Action and Reimagine Football ventures are exploring new ways to take the sport forward in the fields of fan engagement and carbon footprint reductions.
Published Thursday, 25 November 2021.
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Report focuses on key issues such as good governance, safe sport, inclusiveness and anti-discrimination
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FIFA’s transfer system reform gains support as part of improving good governance and integrity
We welcome the publication of the Fan Led Review and want to take this opportunity to thank Tracey Crouch and the Panel for their hard work.
We have been fully engaged with the review since its inception and recognise its importance for English football.
UK Sport has for the first time introduced pregnancy guidance for Olympic and Paralympic athletes and sport governing bodies.
The guidance includes advice for both pregnancy and continues once the athlete has given birth. UK Sport said “starting a family and being an elite athlete should not be mutually exclusive.” Five-time Olympic archer Naomi Folkard who gave birth in early 2021 before competing at this years Tokyo Olympics said “Female athletes should no longer have to make a choice between their athletic career and having children. I hope in a short time it will encourage sports science to not only begin to cover women and men equally, but also have pregnancy specific research projects for female athletes.”
Singh joins English football’s governing body after five years with the prestigious United States Golf Association. As chief commercial officer, he led the USGA’s global commercial strategy for its assets including the major men’s and women’s U.S. Open championships.
Bernard Guasch, owner and president of Catalans Dragons, has tonight been fined £10,000 (£2,500 suspended for three years) for comments made about the match officials following last month’s Super League Grand Final.
The tribunal found Guasch to have breached the following Operational Rules.
The WNBA announced today that former Atlanta Dream players Courtney Williams and Crystal Bradford have been suspended without pay for their roles in an altercation outside of an Atlanta-area club in May and for related health and safety protocol violations. Williams’ suspension is for two games and Bradford’s suspension is for one game.
I write to address the misunderstandings caused by an inaccurate and wayward attack on our International Federation in recent days.
Discussions around the future composition of Modern Pentathlon and especially the Riding discipline have stirred emotions since UIPM announced the 5th Discipline consultation process on November 4. This is nothing new. There were question marks around Riding when I competed in the 1980s and early 1990s (even the IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, suggested after the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992 that horses should be replaced by bicycles).
The International Cricket Council today unveiled its global growth strategy which places women’s cricket firmly at the heart of its long-term ambitions. The strategy which has been developed in partnership with ICC Members is aimed at strengthening, growing, and protecting the game with the vision of more players, more fans and more nations enjoying cricket.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) today confirmed Geoff Allardice has been appointed as the organisation’s permanent CEO after more than eight months in the role on an interim basis.
Allardice, a former first-class cricketer, was the ICC General Manager, Cricket for eight years having previously held a similar role at Cricket Australia.
The World Athletics Doping Review Board has agreed that the application of one Russian athlete has met the exceptional eligibility criteria to compete in international U20 competition as a neutral athlete in 2021 under Eligibility Rule 3.2 while the Russian national federation (RusAF) remains suspended.
Welcome to LawInSport’s weekly News Roundup. This roundup highlights this week’s top news pieces from across the world of sport.
For further updates, please visit our news section.
We hope you find this useful. If you have any related questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
The resource was designed by the ITA to support all National Olympic Committees taking part in the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 with the Anti-Doping Education of their athletes and athlete support personnel ahead of the games.
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Advisory Council (AAC) and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) are honored to have been invited to the first-ever ONDCP anti-doping forum including Olympic and Paralympic athletes, the USOPC, AAC, USADA, and U.S. corporate sponsors held on Friday, November 12, 2021.
The next edition of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup is set to mark a landmark in the history of the competition which started 56 years ago, as it will be held in February 2022 in Cairo, Egypt, taking place in an African country for the first time.
The event is poised to further enhance its unique transatlantic status by also becoming the first club competition in basketball history to feature contenders that will be representing four different regional leagues.
Following presentations from RusAF Acting President Irina Privalova and Chair of the Russia Taskforce, Rune Anderson, the World Athletics Congress has today approved the World Athletics Council’s recommendation that the Russian Federation continues to be suspended while the Council oversees completion of the Russian reinstatement plan.
Andersen presented the Taskforce’s latest report before the Congress vote. All other documents and decisions will be published at the conclusion of the Congress tomorrow.
UEFA has taken another important step to protect players’ health and safety by launching a concussion charter for teams taking part in the European men’s and women’s club and national team competitions.
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the sport’s governing and regulatory body, has today announced that regulatory and sports law specialist Raj Parker has been appointed to its Board.
Raj takes up his role as an Independent Non-Executive Regulatory Director on 1 January, and will replace Sir Paul Stephenson, who joined the BHA Board in 2015 and whose term expires on 31 December.
CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe heaped praises on the new Egyptian Football Association (EFA) Technical Center at its official opening and urged other African countries follow similar route.
Over the weekend, Dr. Motsepe alongside FIFA President Mr. Gianni Infantino participated in the official inauguration of the new EFA Technical Center and Headquarters in the 6th of October city, Cairo.
Welcome to LawInSport’s weekly News Roundup. This roundup highlights this week’s top news pieces from across the world of sport.
For further updates, please visit our news section.
We hope you find this useful. If you have any related questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
World Rugby can confirm that it has issued a written warning to Rugby Australia and Rugby Australia’s men’s 15s head coach Dave Rennie for comments made immediately after Australia’s final Autumn Nations Series match against Wales in Cardiff on 20 November.
Match officials are the backbone of the sport, and without them there is no game. World Rugby condemns any public criticism of their selection, performance or integrity which undermines or threatens their role, the trust-based coach-officials feedback process, and more importantly, the values that are at the heart of the sport and must be upheld.
• Female athletes were the target of 87% of all abuse
• 65% of all abusive posts warrant intervention from social media platforms
In line with its commitment to making athletics a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, World Athletics today publishes findings of a study conducted during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to identify and address targeted, abusive messages sent to athletes via social media.
Reported revenues for the year are £97m (£167m in previous year) and profit to reserves £20.5m (loss of £27.1m in prior year).
Revenues in the year were nearly £120m less than pre-COVID forecasts with an underlying loss to reserves of £21.3m (c£30m worse than pre-COVID forecasts).
Following feedback from Clubs remaining in this season’s Papa John’s Trophy, the EFL can confirm Clubs will be permitted to make five substitutions from the seven they nominate for the remainder of the 2021/22 competition.
The amendment to Competition Rule 10.1 comes into effect ahead of the next round of ties which will take place during the week commencing Monday 29 November 2021.
The change was made after consideration of the proposal which highlighted concerns of a demanding fixture schedule over the coming months.
- Approval of Independent Ethics Board; additional seats on Executive Committee for an athlete representative and an independent member, and on Foundation Board for athletes and National Anti-Doping Organizations; and establishment of WADA Athletes’ Council
- Athletes’ Anti-Doping Ombuds Program to be piloted next year
- New Confidential Sources’ Policy approved
Published Thursday, 25 November 2021.
ATP has announced new rules relating to toilet breaks, attire changes to come into effect from 2022, in addition to a proposed change to the Medical Time Out rule (start date TBC).
Toilet Break & Change of Attire (Effective 2022)
Published Wednesday, 24 November 2021.
The European Parliament today adopted a comprehensive resolution on EU Sport Policy and called for action to protect European sport from the threat of breakaway competitions like the attempted European super league. Spearheaded by former Polish international football player, MEP Tomasz Frankowski, the Resolution was approved by an overwhelming majority of the European Parliament’s members from the 27 member states of the European Union.
- Jane Rumble joins UKAD from Ofcom where she is the Change Director
- Starts role in March 2022
- UKAD Chair Trevor Pearce ‘delighted’ with appointment and highlights Jane Rumble’s extensive regulatory experience
Published Tuesday, 23 November 2021.
At the request of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and as was the case for previous Olympic Games, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) posts the IOC’s Anti-Doping Rules (Rules) and accompanying circular letter applicable to the Olympic Games Beijing 2022 (2022 Games) taking place in February 2022.
The independent Disciplinary Panel of the British Horseracing Authority will convene from Tuesday 30 November 2021, with five additional dates reserved, to consider whether Licensed Jockey Robbie Dunne is in breach of the following Rules of Racing:
Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has been fined 15 per cent of his match fees for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the second T20I against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Saturday
This weekend sees the launch of Play Safe – an ongoing national FA-led campaign to ensure everyone understands how to play their part in safeguarding children throughout football.
Play Safe is being run in partnership with the NSPCC and has the full backing of the Premier League, EFL, Barclays FA Women’s Super League and the FA Women’s Championship. It’s also supported and being run across every other level of the game.
The International Testing Agency (ITA) is set to manage yet another independent and expert-led anti-doping program for a major event, after completing its missions for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 and the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in 2022. The International World Games Association (IWGA) has entered a collaboration with the ITA for its next major event, The World Games 2022, to be held in July in Birmingham, Alabama (USA).
Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston has said that an independent regulator may be created for cricket following the ongoing racism scandal.
Following Azeem Rafiq’s testimony at a Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee where he detailed the racism that he suffered throughout his cricketing career Huddleston said he found it “alarming” and “harrowing”.
Published Friday, 19 November 2021.
The WNBA Board of Governors approved changes to the league’s playoff format and postseason seeding, effective with the 2022 season, the WNBA announced today. The reconfigured postseason structure will include three rounds of series-play using a best-of 3-5-5 format.
Beginning with the WNBA’s 26th season, the eight teams with the highest winning percentages over a 36-game schedule regardless of conference will qualify for the playoffs and be seeded based on their record. All eight playoff teams will participate in first-round, bracket-style play consisting of four best-of-three series.
Last year, the ECA’s General Counsel decided to have a rethink at what sort of legal services ECA should be delivering to its members. The latest stage of that process is the introduction of the ECA Legal Journal.
The first issue is available to read now and, going forwards, will be published on a bi-annual basis.
As ECA CEO Charlie Marshall explains in his introduction to this new publication, “Many of you will remember the ECA Legal Bulletin, our annual publication designed to provide you with useful and practical information regarding football law matters.
