Presentation of the Book
INTERNATIONAL SPORTS JUSTICETEASER - FLYERAuthors: Massimo Coccia & Michele Colucci (Eds.)
Publisher Sports Law and Policy Centre (SLPC), www.slpc.eu
ISBN code: ISBN 978-88-943373-4-1
Place and year of publication: Nocera Inferiore (SA) Italy, 2024
Total pages and price of the book: pp. 850 – Euro 150
The whole international sports system is based on contractual autonomy and freedom ofassociation, as all international sports organizations are non-governmental organizations
established as private associations or corporations, with which those who wish to participate
in organized sport must be registered.
Athletes and clubs (as well as any other individual or entity registered with a sportsorganization) are thus contractually bound to comply with the rules and regulations adopted
by sports organizations and to abide by their decisions. In particular, the members of theinternational sporting community have elected since the inception of organized sport to havedisputes within that community settled through “justice mechanisms” of their own choice anddesign.
This book examines those private justice mechanisms, both those established within
the various international sports federations or leagues (giving rise to in-house disputesettlement mechanisms) and those established outside those organizations by independent
arbitration institutions (giving rise to arbitration mechanisms that are able to provide a legal
alternative to the ordinary jurisdiction of sovereign States).
Of course, ordinary courts maintain a crucial role in supervising those private justicemechanisms. Indeed, international sports institutions sometimes abuse of their huge powers
as sector regulators and exploit their monopolistic position to the detriment of other actors of
the sporting community.
For this reason, State judiciaries, as well as the judicial bodies created by States atinternational or supranational level, play a very important role in ensuring that the sports
institutions, and in particular their judicial bodies, stay on course and abide by mandatory
rules and public policy principles, so as to guarantee individual or fundamental rights, both ofnational and supranational character.
This book looks closely at a multitude of international sports organizations toconsider the prospects of international sports justice and its relationship with ordinary justice.
The authors are all eminent scholars and practitioners with a vast experience in this field andare able to provide in-depth review and insight into this fascinating area of the law. The
volume has three sections.
The first section covers the functioning, procedures and case law of the Court ofArbitration for Sport, based in Switzerland, and of Sport Resolutions, based in the UK.
The second section focuses on the internal justice mechanisms of major sports
organizations in several sports. Particular attention is given to the structure and rules of sports
internal judicial bodies, the relevant proceedings, the eligibility, employment, economic andtechnical disputes, by also taking into due account the relevant case law.
The third section deals with international sports leagues, such as the major
professional leagues based in the United States, and their peculiarities.
Finally, the concluding remarks offer a brief comparative review of the examinedsports justice systems in order to identify the critical issues, but also the best practices, ofinternational sports justice.