The Particularity Of Sports Law

Sports Law is defined as the legal framework that regulates the organization, functioning, and governance of sports activities within a country.

This regulatory aspect of the definition does not deny that this branch of law is at the crossroads of employment law, agency, anti-trust, contracts law, criminal law and human rights, among many other legal disciplines.

Yet, sports law is not a compilation of rules that one can necessarily master by mastering its civil, commercial, administrative and criminal law components. Indeed, the international bodies that organize sports, such as the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) or the Féderation Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”), have developed unique arbitral tribunals to resolve most of the disputes in sports law (I), which in turn has encouraged the emergence of specific legal principles applicable in sports law: the “lex sportiva” (II).