Introduction
In today’s athletic world, Sports is considered to be one of the largest global industry due to the huge influx of money and capital. Due to the said infusion this sector also generates considerable issues demanding legal attention and that’s when the call for quick resolution of the subject matter comes in. Sports arbitrations is a process of settling sports-related conflicts by presenting them before a tribunal for binding rulings.
Sports Arbitration in India
Sports Authority of India (SAI) is the apex body responsible for conducting numerous sports activities at the national level throughout the country. Then there is sports law and welfare association of India which helps in the promotion of ethical values in all the sports activities in the country, It also ensures the smooth functioning of the sports industry and also keeps on looking for the scope of improvement in the current sports laws.
With the steep rise in viewership and investment in the sporting industry, including the increase in viewership of soccer in India, and involvement of the overseas player in franchises like IPL a need to develop an infrastructure for the resolution of sports-related disputes was needed. The Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports (ICAS) was established in 2011 with the said objective of dispute resolution between the fraternity of sports with Dr. A.R. Lakshmanan serving as its chairman. One of India's first significant initiatives was ICAS, which helped establish the foundation for a strong dispute resolution system that would be tailored to the particular intricacies of sports-related disputes. The court's focus was on the idea of an efficient and quick resolution of sports disputes, taking in mind the condensed amount of time that a sportsperson had to devote to their career.
Presently most of the disputes related to sports were resolved through the formation of internal committees by the sports authority of the sport in India or the state. Another route preferred by the parties is filing the case before the respective high court or the supreme court of the country if the internal committee fails to resolve the disputes. To address this issue Sports Arbitration Centre of India was set up in 2021. It was established with the objective to expedite the dispute resolution of matters in the sports industry and serve as a dispute redressal mechanism for sports issues.
Significance of Court of Arbitration for Sports (C.A.S)
The court of Arbitration for Sports is an international body that was set up in 1984 to resolve sports-related disputes through arbitration. C.A.S also has its own rules and procedure called the “Code of Sports-related Arbitration and Mediation Rules” (the “CAS Code”) to ensure smooth functioning in the process of decision-making. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS), and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) all have their main offices in Lausanne, Switzerland. Due to the presence of such significant sporting bodies, Switzerland has emerged as the world's centre for the arbitration of sports disputes.
The unique feature of the CAS is that the seat of arbitration is already fixed unlike commercial arbitration, where parties don’t have the power to choose the seat of arbitration. It has been explicitly stated in article R28 of the CAS code that Lausanne, Switzerland is the default seat of arbitration in the CAS arbitration. Henceforth, the exclusive jurisdiction of the Swiss Federal Tribunal will apply when a party wants to set aside an arbitral award passed by CAS. Moreover, all arbitration proceedings in CAS are governed by Swiss arbitration law which considered ‘arbitration friendly’.
Landmark Judgements of CAS
1. Manchester City F.C Vs U.E.F.A:
U.E.F.A banned Manchester city football club from participating in European competition for the following 2 seasons and also imposed a fine of 30 million euros on the grounds that the Manchester city has breached financial fair play and club licensing regulations. Moreover, The club was also charged by U.E.F. A’s officials for not cooperating in the ongoing investigation of the case.
Henceforth, Manchester city filed an appeal to C.A.S where it overturned the decision to ban Manchester City for 2 years from participating in European competitions and also reduced its fine to 10 million euros. The club has put forward all the emails before the CAS that were the basis of allegation by the U.E.F.A and CAS held that no malintent can be adduced from the non-production of these emails at an earlier stage of an investigation. But still, the club was charged and punished for not cooperating with the investigation before the case was brought before the CAS panel.
2. Football Association of Ireland (FAI) case:
As a result of Daniel Kearns' dual British and Irish citizenship, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) asked FIFA on 3 November to permit him to play for the FAI national side. Kearns was then under contract with West Ham United. The FIFA Players' Status Committee's single-judge panel determined that Kearns met the necessary objective requirements outlined in Article 18 of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes due to the fact that the player had never represented Northern Ireland in official competition at the international level. A CAS Panel heard the matter in Lausanne on July 19 2010 after the IFA, Northern Ireland's football regulatory body, filed an appeal with the body on March 2nd, 2010. Daniel Kearns was acknowledged to be qualified to represent the FAI national team by the CAS Panel, which rejected the appeal and upheld the Single Judge's determination of the FIFA Players' Status Committee.
Conclusion
Arbitration procedures usually help to settle disputes in a more practical way, allowing for a confidential decision in a considerable span of time. CAS is an alternative on a global scale, while ICAS is the forum in India for arbitrating sports-related disputes. Compared to the conventional methods of resolving disputes in regular courts, these specialty forums have an advantage. The most prominent advantage of CAS is that of having arbitrators with experience in sports law, which ultimately leads to a better knowledge of the dispute and a better resolution.. The forum also appoints eminent jurists from the international sports community, providing the best possible arbitrator to decide the dispute. Henceforth, arbitration provides a best option for resolution of sports dispute if done through Court of Arbitration for sports or ICAS.
By,
Tanishq Bhonsle
Intern at "Surange & Company"
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