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Sports disputes and disciplinary procedures – the year in review 2019/20

Footballers
Wednesday, 10 June 2020 Author: Carol Couse, Tiran Gunawardena, Rustam Sethna

Given how COVID-19 has completely dominated everything in life over the past few months, it is somewhat surreal looking back over the last year to what the sports industry looked like.

If you do cast your mind back, you might recall that 2019-20 was a year of high-profile sports disputes and disciplinary cases, with many of those cases frequently occupying the mainstream media spotlight.

Given the burgeoning landscape of sports disputes and disciplinary proceedings, this review seeks to summarise the year gone by through the following overarching themes:

 

  1. Sports tribunals and their independence
  2. Financial regulation of sport
  3. Other high profile disputes in the media spotlight
  4. New rules and regulations
  5. Issues to look out for

COVID-19 clearly casts a large shadow over the sports industry so at the end of this article the authors will provide a brief overview of some of the sports disputes expected to arise over the next year due to the fallout from the virus.

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Written by

Carol Couse

Carol Couse

Carol is a Partner in the sports team at Mills & Reeve LLP , with extensive in-house and in private practice experience of dealing with sports regulatory matters, whether contentious or non-contentious, including in respect of all legal issues pertaining to football.  She has represented clients before dispute resolution and disciplinary bodies of the Premier League, The FA, UEFA, FIFA and the CAS.

As a Spanish speaker, Carol frequently advises top athletes, agents, and clubs in Spain and Latin America. Carol is regularly invited to lecture at universities and conferences all over the world, publishes articles on a wide variety of sport-related matters, and often provides comments and analysis on legal issues in sport for the BBC, the Times, the Guardian, the New York Times, Sky Sports, ESPN and others.

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Tiran Gunawardena

Tiran Gunawardena

Tiran Gunawardena is a Principal Associate (Australian Qualified) in the London sports law team at Mills & Reeve LLP. Tiran was selected by Who’s Who Legal: Sports and Entertainment as a leading sports lawyer in the UK in 2020, 2019 and 2018. Tiran is a regulatory sports lawyer specialising in international and domestic sports arbitration, with significant experience with proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and regulatory matters in sport. He is dual qualified as an Australian solicitor and chartered accountant, and holds a Master in International Sports Law from ISDE (Madrid). Tiran is on the Arbitral Board and Disciplinary Committee of the UCI, and is on the Formula One Cost Cap Adjudication Panel. Tiran is also an England Boxing and British Gymnastics Disciplinary Panel member. Prior to working at Mills & Reeve, Tiran spent almost 4 years working in the Corporate Tax and M&A team at PwC Sydney.

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Rustam Sethna

Rustam Sethna

Rustam is a Senior Associate on the Sports Law team at Mills & Reeve and recognised by the Legal500 as a ‘Rising Star’ in Sports Law, where he is described as “extremely hard working” with “stand out […] expertise in cross-border sports litigation in areas ranging from football to sailing”. 
 
He has acted for athletes, clubs, governing bodies, player associations, agents and administrators in contractual, employment, disciplinary, ethics, anti-doping and selection disputes before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and various international and national governing body tribunals. He also advises on a range of regulatory issues in sport.” 

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