ENFRES

Sports disputes

Sporting disputes that require a legal resolution often arise from contractual, disciplinary or governance matters. CAS handles procedures for all sports, which can range from ruling on anti-doping disputes at the Olympic Games to examining the contract between an athlete and a sponsor. 900 cases are filed to CAS each year related to over 50 different sports.

Contractual disputes usually involve issues, such as:

  • employment contracts between players, coaches, clubs and national federations

  • sponsorship

  • selling television rights

  • organising sports event

  • player transfers

Contractual disputes can also include civil liability claims, for example requests for compensation related to an injury during a sports competition. CAS may act as a sole instance or a court of appeal for contractual disputes.

Disciplinary disputes involve alleged violations of sporting regulations, such as:

  • Doping violations

  • On-field violence

  • Match fixing

  • Violation of ethics rules

  • Corruption

  • Safe sport issues

Disciplinary disputes are usually under appeal, with a decision first handled by a federation or sports-body. CAS then acts as a court of last instance to examine the matter and render a final decision.

Some examples of governance matters could be

  • Elections and term rules for sports federations

  • Statutes for sports federations

  • Recognition of national or regional sports-bodies

Governance matters are diverse but are mostly disputes between the members of a sports organisation (individuals or associations) and the organisation itself. They can be related to an election process or the application of statutory rules.

The Code of Sports-related Arbitration

Arbitration procedures at CAS are governed by the Code of Sports-related Arbitration, also known as the CAS Code.  The Code incorporates the ICAS Statutes and the CAS procedural rules. It outlines the regulations that must be followed to resolve a sports-related dispute at CAS.

The Code was first developed in 1994 and has gone through multiple revisions to incorporate principles of CAS case-law, or practices consistently followed by arbitrators and the Court Office. The latest version came into force on 1 July 2025.

The Code establishes rules for four permanent procedures:

  • The Ordinary Arbitration procedure

  • The Appeals Arbitration procedure

  • A procedure at the CAS Anti-Doping Division

  • Mediation

The CAS code offers a high amount of procedural flexibility to its users. It also ensures that judicial proceedings at CAS remain accessible, simple and effective for athletes, clubs and federations. 

CAS Court Office 

The CAS Court Office is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and is responsible for administering procedures and ensuring they run smoothly. The Court Office is made up of legal counsels, secretaries and a secretariat who are under the leadership of the CAS Director General. 

Arbitrators

CAS rules on sporting disputes through the intermediary of arbitrators, experts in law, arbitration and sports who are appointed to uphold a fair application of the law and sports regulations. When considering a procedure, arbitrators must carry out their duties with total objectivity and independence.

CAS has a mandatory list of more than 500 arbitrators, CAS Anti-Doping Division judges and mediators from almost 100 different countries around the world. Most procedures are managed by Panels, which can be constituted of 3 arbitrators or of a sole arbitrator.

Arbitrators are appointed to the list for a renewable term of four years. They’re bound by a duty of confidentiality and may not reveal any information connected to a procedure, Parties, nor a dispute. Arbitrators also participate in training sessions led by CAS. 

Types of arbitration procedures

CAS has two different arbitration procedures: the Ordinary Arbitration Procedure and the Appeals Arbitration Procedure.

These form two divisions at the Court, which are led by four members of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) as Division Presidents and Deputy Presidents. The Division Presidents have oversight of arbitration procedures until a Panel is appointed.

Ordinary Arbitration Procedure
An Ordinary Procedure is applicable when a dispute is referred to CAS because Parties have an arbitration clause in a contract, or in the statutes of a federation. A Request for Arbitration submitted by Parties on a one-off basis after a dispute has arisen is also governed by the Ordinary Procedure.

Appeals Arbitration Procedure

An Appeals Arbitration Procedure is a request for arbitration against a decision that has first been rendered by a federation or sports-body. The federation or sports-body will have a specific and written arbitration clause in their statutes that makes legal allowance to appeal to CAS.

An Appeals Arbitration Procedure at CAS can only be initiated after all the internal legal avenues of the relevant sports organisation or governing body have been exhausted.

How procedures are carried out

Once an arbitration procedure has started, the Parties will exchange written submissions and file material evidence to the CAS Court Office. These are known as written proceedings.

During this phase, the Parties agree on whether to nominate a sole arbitrator, or whether a Panel of arbitrators should be composed. Every Panel has a President, who holds final responsibility for a procedure with the support of the CAS Court Office.

To form a Panel, each Party nominates an arbitrator from the CAS arbitrator list. In Ordinary Procedures, the designated arbitrators nominate another to be President of the Panel. In Appeals Arbitration Procedures, the President of the Panel is selected by the Division President of the Appeals Arbitration Division.

If Parties choose to have their case considered by one arbitrator only, they must all agree on the designated sole arbitrator in Ordinary Arbitration Procedures. In the absence of an agreement, this person is appointed by President of the Ordinary Division. In Appeals Arbitration Procedures, the Division President will nominate the sole arbitrator.  

Once the written proceedings are concluded, the Panel may decide to schedule a hearing after consultation with the Parties. During a hearing, the Panel will further consider the Parties’ arguments, oral testimonies and expert evidence. Hearings can be in-person, virtual, or hybrid and form what is known as oral proceedings.

After a hearing, or the decision not to hold one, the Panel or sole arbitrator will announce the end of the evidentiary proceedings (written and oral) and will start to deliberate before pronouncing a final decision.

Expedited procedures 

Parties may agree and make a request to CAS to expedite a procedure to accommodate the needs of international sport, for example when a decision must be made prior to a competition. In these circumstances, procedural timelines can be shortened. Division Presidents may also be called upon to rule on requests for provisional measures before a Panel is composed and the case is heard.

Awards

CAS decisions are called Awards and hold the same value as a national court judgement, enforceable in accordance with the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. CAS awards may be enforced by sports federations or by state courts, depending on the circumstances.

Once a Panel has made its judgment, CAS awards are communicated to the Parties with or without grounds. If an Award is issued without grounds, it is known as an Operative Decision, and the grounds will follow later. In some cases, or for expedited proceedings, an Operative Decision can be pronounced shortly after the conclusion of a hearing. Parties will always be notified of the grounds of any decision.

A final CAS Award is subject to review by the Swiss Federal Tribunal, the highest court of law in Switzerland. The Swiss Federal Tribunal can set aside CAS Awards on the following grounds only:

  • the sole member of the arbitral tribunal was improperly appointed or the arbitral tribunal improperly constituted

  • the arbitral tribunal wrongly accepted or declined jurisdiction

  • where the arbitral tribunal ruled beyond the claims submitted to it, or failed to decide one of the claims

  • where the principle of equal treatment of the parties or their right to be heard in an adversary procedure were violated

  • the award is incompatible with public policy.

On average, 6% of CAS decisions are appealed to the SFT each year.

CAS ad hoc divisions

During international sports events such as the Olympic Games, the Asian Games, the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA EURO, CAS creates specific temporary divisions, called ad hoc Divisions, with the purpose of settling disputes within a very short period of time. At the Olympic Games, for example, this is within 24 hours.  

The ad hoc divisions have a tailored legal procedure, designed to be simple and accessible to athletes, officials and federations taking part in the competitions.

The first ad hoc division was created in 1996 for the Olympic Games in Atlanta and has been set up for each edition of the Summer and Winter Games since. CAS also established ad hoc divisions for the Asian Games since 2014, for the UEFA European Football Championship since 2000, for the FIFA World Cup since 2006. 

The CAS Anti-Doping Division

The CAS Anti-Doping Division (CAS ADD) was created as a first instance authority to hear and decide anti-doping cases in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC).

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Federations recognised by the IOC and signatories to the WADC have delegated the CAS ADD the authority to adjudicate whether a violation of anti-doping rules has occurred and apply sanctions.

The CAS ADD operates year-round and is present for international sporting events such as the Olympic Games, with a tailored, accelerated procedure just like the CAS ad hoc division. CAS ADD arbitrators are specialised in anti-doping regulations.

CAS ADD procedures are conducted in a similar way to an arbitration procedure at CAS, with written submissions, oral proceedings, deliberation by the Panel and a pronounced decision. They are confidential.

Mediation

CAS also offers a mediation procedure to resolve sporting disputes. Mediation is a non-binding and informal procedure in which Parties attempt to negotiate together in good faith. It is supported by the assistance of a CAS mediator and used with a view to settle.

Mediation is initiated by sending a request in writing to the CAS Court Office. The Parties will then appoint a mediator from the CAS mediators’ list and agree on how the procedure should be conducted. Without an agreement, the mediator will determine how the procedure will be carried out in accordance with the CAS Rules.

Unlike arbitration, a resolution cannot be imposed on any Party(-ies). Instead, the mediator will encourage a settlement and propose solutions. The procedure is terminated by the signing of a settlement agreement.   

Mediation services are mostly offered for the resolution of contractual disputes. Disciplinary disputes for matters such as doping, match-fixing and corruption are generally excluded from CAS mediation. 

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