The Independence Of CAS Confirmed

On 8 March 2018 the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (the "Court") published on its website a new decision in the field of international arbitration (the "Decision")¹ wherein it confirmed the Court of Arbitration for Sport's (the "CAS") independence from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association ("FIFA").

The Decision, which was rendered by all five members of the First Civil Chamber on 20 February 2018, will be included in the Court's publication of leading cases.

1 Facts

The dispute that led to the Decision circled around the topic of Third Party Ownership (TPO).

In 2015, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee sanctioned a Belgian football club (the "Club") for violations of articles 18bis² and 18ter³ of FIFA's Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players ("RSTP"). The FIFA Appeal Committee confirmed this decision in 2016, whereupon the Club filed an appeal with CAS.