A cheaper, faster and less risky alternative to court proceedings and arbitration is sports mediation. Through sports mediation, it will be possible to achieve good solutions also in cases that involve several parties and have a high level of complexity.

In a statement published 19th November this year, FIFA announced that the FIFA Council are set to approve two sets of reforms that aim to strengthen the positions of football coaches and female football players. The proposed regulations were endorsed by the FIFA Football Stakeholders Committee (FSC) at its meeting 18th November this year and is expected to be approved by the FIFA Council in December.

The consequences of terminating a contract will depend on whether there is just cause, or possibly sporting just cause, or not, and whether one is within the protected period of three / two years. Both the player and the club may be liable to pay compensation and could even risk sporting sanctions.

The outbreak of Covid-19/the coronavirus has forced the vast majority of the world’s football organisations and associations to suspend football activities to one extent or another. At present, all international competitions and most domestic competitions are suspended, whilst most countries have applied strict restrictions to avoid crowds, which strongly affect the possibility to organise team trainings. As a result of the challenges football faces due to Covid-19/the coronavirus, 7th April FIFA issued guidelines that address the legal consequences of Covid-19. This article will examine the guidelines regarding the contractual relationship between clubs and players, more specifically to what extent the guidelines can and will affect the clubs’ and players’ rights and obligations according to the player contracts.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has the competence to settle sport-related disputes. CAS was created by The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1983 and is located in Lausanne, Switzerland. CAS also has branch offices in New York and Sydney, and at major sports events, such as the Olympic Games, the football World Cup and the European Football Championships, ad hoc offices are created to deal with violations of regulations in the current sports event.

Nationally and internationally, sport has been given a high degree of autonomy. As long as the sport operates within a certain set of frames, the sport itself can decide which rules should apply in the field of sport and establish bodies that deal with violations of sports regulations and sports-related disputes. Sports-related disputes arising from a contract, e.g. related to player contracts, sponsorship contracts or media rights, may be processed by the various arbitration tribunals of the sport in question.