This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Adopting a distinctive legal and political analysis, this book argues that the EU is receptive to the sports sectors claims for special treatment before the law. The book investigates the birth of EU sports law and policy by examining significant court decisions, the possibility of exempting sport from EU law, sport and the EU treaty, and more.
Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this practical analysis of sports law in the European Union deals with the regulation of sports activity by both public authorities and private sports organizations. The growing internationalization of sports inevitably increases the weight of global regulation, yet each country maintains its own distinct regime of sports law and its own national and local sports organizations. Sports law at a national or organizational level thus gains a growing relevance in comparative law. The book describes and discusses both state-created rules and autonomous self-regulation regarding the variety of economic, social, commercial, cultural, and political aspects of sports activities. Self- regulation manifests itself in the form of by-laws, and encompasses organizational provisions, disciplinary rules, and rules of play. However, the trend towards more professionalism in sports and the growing economic, social and cultural relevance of sports have prompted an increasing reliance on legal rules adopted by public authorities. This form of regulation appears in a variety of legal areas, including criminal law, labour law, commercial law, tax law, competition law, and tort law, and may vary following a particular type or sector of sport. It is in this dual and overlapping context that such much-publicized aspects as doping, sponsoring and media, and responsibility for injuries are legally measured. This monograph fills a gap in the legal literature by giving academics, practitioners, sports organizations, and policy makers access to sports law at this specific level. Lawyers representing parties with interests in the European Union will welcome this very useful guide, and academics and researchers will appreciate its value in the study of comparative sports law.
Katarina Pijetlovic is the first author to address the issue of breakaway leagues in football and their treatment under EU law. In this book she guides the reader through EU sports law, the specificities of the sporting industry and the problems and power struggles in European football governance in the context of the breakaway threats by elite clubs. In order to analyse the legality of UEFA clauses that restrict the formation of such breakaway structures, the author first provides a progressive interpretation of the applicable EU sports law and an in-depth analytical review of EU sports cases decided under internal market and competition provisions, including a novel perspective on the UEFA home-grown rule and the Bosman case. Thereafter, she sets out an original theory of convergence between TFEU provisions on competition and the internal market in the light of sporting exceptions. Finally, in applying the legal principles thus outlined Katarina Pijetlovic explores the legality of the restrictive UEFA clauses and the case for the formation of alternative leagues in European football under EU sports law. A number of surprising outcomes emerge from this analytical process. Conversely, she also tests the largely neglected issue of the legality of forming a breakaway league by the European elite football clubs. The systematic way in which the reader is guided through EU sports law and the legal issues under consideration makes the book accessible for EU lawyers as well as non-EU sports lawyers, on both an academic and a practitioner’s level. Katarina Pijetlovic holds licentiate and doctoral degrees in EU sports law from the University of Helsinki. The book appears in the ASSER International Sports Law Series, under the editorship of Dr. David McArdle, Prof. Ben Van Rompuy and Marco van der Harst LL.M.
Principles and Practice in EU Sports Law provides an overview of EU sports law. In particular it assesses sporting bodies' claims for legal autonomy from the 'ordinary law' of states and international organizations. Sporting bodies insist on using their expertise to create a set of globally applicable rules which should not be deviated from irrespective of the territory on which they are applied. The application of the lex sportiva, which refers to the conventions that define a sport's operation, is analysed, as well as how this is used in claims for sporting autonomy. The lex sportiva may generate conflicts with a state or international institution such as the European Union, and the motives behind sporting bodies' claims in favour of the lex sportiva's autonomy may be motivated by concern to uphold its integrity or to preserve commercial gain. Stephen Weatherill's text underlines the tense relationship between lex sportiva and national and regional jurisdictions which is exemplified with specific focus on the EU. The development of EU sports law and its controversies are detailed, reinforced by the example of relevant legal principles in the context of the practice of sports law. The intellectual heart of the text endeavours to make a normative assessment of the strength of claims in favour of sporting autonomy, and the variation between different jurisdictions and sports is evident. Furthermore the enduring dilemma facing sports lawyers running throughout the text is whether sport should be regarded as special, and in turn how (far) its special character should be granted legal recognition.
Sport is often seen as an indicator of the civic maturity of a community, an aspect of the rights of citizens to health, education and social integration. This book examines the relationships between participation in sport and physical activity, and welfare policies across Europe. It argues that the success of campaigns for the promotion of sport depend on the existence of dedicated welfare policies promoted by the European states and explores variations in cultural models and structures of governance across Europe. Addressing the function of supranational institutions such as the EU as well as voluntary networks, the book illuminates key issues in European societies such as migration, financial austerity and Brexit as they relate to sport policy. This is important reading for scholars and students in the fields of European sport and physical activity, sociology, political science and organisational analysis, as well as operators and managers of the sport systems involved in advanced training programmes.
The Sporting Exception in European Union Law is the definitive account of EU sports law. It provides a modern legal framework based on an analysis of major European Court of Justice judgments including Walrave (1974), Don... (1976), Bosman (1995), Deliège (2000), Lehtonen (2000), Kolpak (2003), Piau (2005) and Meca-Medina (2006). It also provides advanced commentary on the major sports-related competition decisions of the European Commission. Broadcasting issues, rules affecting player mobility and issues of sports governance are analysed, as are current issues in EU sports law including the Oulmers case, home-grown players, players' agents, the Services Directive, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the 2006 Independent European Sports Review, the 2007 Commission White Paper on Sport, the Reform Treaty and prospects for social dialogue. The work is a resource for academics, lawyers and sports administrators and students of sports law and EU law programmes.
Given the impact that successive court rulings have had on the organisation of the sports movement in the past 15 years, the autonomy of non-governmental sports organisations has become a highly topical concern in Europe. It is also closely related to the issue of governance, the subject of previous Council of Europe studies. The Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) decided to explore the concept of autonomy in greater depth by studying the conceptual, political, legal, economic and psycho-sociological aspects of the subject. This study was carried out at the request of the EPAS by the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration (IDHEAP) on the basis of a questionnaire sent to public authorities in charge of sport and to national and international umbrella sports organisations. In addition to an analysis of the data obtained, documents produced by public authorities and sports organisations on this emerging issue are presented. This study contributes to a better understanding of the concept of autonomy and offers a clear picture of the issues involved.
This book takes stock of the development of criminal law in the context of the EC and the EU, and examines whether this has led to a European criminal policy, and interrogates the legal effects that European-level initiatives in the field have on national criminal law and on suspects.
Gambling is a significant global industry, which is worth around 0.6% of world trade, that is, around US$ 384 billion; and gambling on the outcome of sports events is a very popular pastime for millions of people around the world, who combine a bet with watching and enjoying their favourite sports. But, like any other human activity, sports betting is open to corruption and improper influence from unscrupulous sports persons, bookmakers and others. Sports betting in the last ten years or so has developed and changed quite fundamentally with the advent of modern technology – not least the omnipresence of the Internet and the rise of on-line sports betting. This book covers the law and policy on sports betting in more than forty countries around the world whose economic and social development, history and culture are quite different. Several chapters deal with the United States of America. This book also includes a review of sports betting under European Union (EU) Law. The book appears in the ASSER International Sports Law Series, under the editorship of Dr. Robert Siekmann, Dr. Janwillem Soek and Marco van der Harst LL.M.
This is the first book to investigate the significance of Brexit for sport, with a particular focus on the regulatory and legal challenges that it poses, and the economic and political stresses that are likely to follow in its wake. Written by a team of leading researchers working across sport studies, legal studies and political science, and edited by an EU official with nearly two decades of experience working in EU sport policy, the book explains why regulation, and European dis-integration, matter to sport. It examines key topics including free movement, state aid and labour law, and considers the interests of key stakeholders from fans to football clubs to governing bodies. This is an essential reference for any advanced student, researcher, policy maker, administrator or industry professional working in sport, international law, political science, or international business and management.
