Sports Disputes And Disciplinary Procedures - Annual Review 2022/23

2022 marked a return to normalcy (for the most part) post-covid.  For the sports industry, that meant events taking place as originally scheduled, packed stadiums and in some instances, spending and investment back to, if not higher than, pre-covid levels[1]. 

More specifically, in the sports regulatory space, 2022 brought into focus:

• The role of international sports federations in international diplomacy, in the context of the Ukraine war and the 2022 FIFA World Cup; reminding us that sports and politics do in fact mix;

• The increasingly common threat of breakaway competitions with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf launching alongside the PGA Tour in the aftermath of the European Super League saga. Other emerging disciplines such as padel appeared to successfully retain its autonomy from closest cousins – tennis; and

• The implementation of a number of regulatory changes in football, but most importantly, the FIFA Football Agent Regulations.

For this year’s chapter of the LawInSport Annual Review 2022/23, the authors will look at a cross-section of disputes and interesting issues that arose over the year and what lies ahead.  Broadly, they can be grouped as follows:

• Disputes from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games;
• The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war;
• The conclusion of drawn-out disputes in football, judo, rugby and sailing;
• Restructuring sports – LIV golf, padel and the European Super League;
• Important regulatory updates and changes; and
• Thoughts on what lies ahead.