The rapidly growing business of professional sport increased the number of potential conflicts among participants in the international sports community. Special assistance is required also in sport related conflict resolution. Conflicts may arise between any number of participants in the field, be it national sports organisations, athletes, teams, sponsors, managers, coaches and so on. Wherever there's a (business) relationship, there's a potential conflict as well.
According to literature, the so-called sports disputes are often used as if they would in fact refer to a particular and separate group of disputes. However, the expression is fairly vague and encompasses various disputes that happen to take place in the world of sports. These may include disputes in the 'traditional' legal disciplines such as torts, contractual claims, labour law, tax law, intellectual property law and so on. Some disputes may be exclusively commercial in nature (such as sportsperson – manager dispute), while some might veer even into the quasi-criminal field (such as discipline or doping disputes).
Applicable law in the field surpasses the traditional sources, such as national and international laws in the field of sport and of a particular dispute at hand. They often include the rules of national and international sports organisations, and may often extend to understanding the rules of any given sport.
Our law firm offers legal services to athletes, coaches, their agents, as well as clubs, sponsors and other participants in the sport business. Our services include:
- Drafting agreements and offering support in contractual matters;
- Representation in disputes in front of domestic and international courts and comities, which includes representation in front of Court of arbitration of sport (CAS) and other arbitration tribunals;
- Providing support in establishing associations and corporations;
- Offering legal advice regarding registrations, national and international team-switching;
- Drafting and consulting in the preparation of sponsorship, media, and licence agreements (i.e. exercising the right of radio broadcast, advertisement, intellectual property rights, etc.);
- Support in the issues of data protection, which includes preforming the role of DPO;
- General support in the business activities.