Volker Hesse from VIVA Sports Law is honored to have been invited to lecture at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in the University’s Sports Management Program. Topics of the presentation will be procedures at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber and doping suspensions.

National and international sports lawyers gathered in Zurich at the Swiss Sport Forum in order to discuss how the European Convention on Human Rights can influence arbitration procedures, in particular procedures at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

The Bournemouth University invited Volker Hesse as a guest lecturer. Volker is looking forward to working with the students in several sessions on selected sportslegal issues including the procedure at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, FIFA Players’ Status Committee and the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

In a procedure at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, VIVA Sports Law represented the Maltese club Hamrun Spartans FC. The Maltese club was ordered by the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) to pay a total amount of about 170,000 EUR to three Dutch clubs as training compensation for a new player. In its recent award, the Court of Arbitration for Sport set all three FIFA-decisions aside with the result that Hamrun Spartans FC does not have not pay a penny. “The key to success was that, after a thorough research, we could provide new envidence that convinced the CAS-panel” summarized Volker Hesse from VIVA Sports Law. “When hiring a new player, clubs must carefully establish the former career history of the player concerned in order to avoid any potential claims for training compensation against them. Hamrun Spartans FC is a small club and the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber’s decisions would have put the club in an extremely difficult financial situation. I am glad that the Court of Arbitration for Sport followed all our arguments.”

Volker Hesse gave a lecture at this year’s Master in Advanced Studies in Sport Administration and Technology (MSA) in Lausanne. In his lecture to about 30 interested post-graduate students from various coutries, Volker covered various issues connected to doping suspensions and procedures at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Volker Hesse participated at the conference “Player Contracts 2011”, organized by the world sports law report on 7 July 2011 in London. Sports lawyers from various organizsations discussed new developments with respect to the following topics: compensation for the breach of contracts, training compensation, UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Rules, FIFA Transfer Matching System, protection of minors, procedures at the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, compensating clubs for international duty and the issue of the “third party ownership” of football clubs.

Prior to the EURO 2012, the International Sport Lawyers Association (ISLA) and the Polish Association of Sports Law (PTPS) organize a seminar on legal matters connected to football. Sports lawyers from various European coutries were invited to Poznan.
The conference programme covers the following issues:

1. Football banning orders
2. Football matches coverage on televison
3. Transfers in football
4. Transfer management in football
5. FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber
6. Court of Arbitration for Sport

Volker Hesse travelled to Moscow and participated at the “Football Market”, an event that gathered companies from various sides of the football industry during three days in Moscow. In front of an interested audience, Volker held a presentation about the recent amendments made in the FIFA Disciplinary Code and the consequences for football clubs and associations.

Five Mexican footballers were tested positive for clenbuterol in the preparation phase of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in June 2011. The Mexican Football Association did not suspend the players as it was found, based on evidence gathered, that the positive samples were the result of meat the players had ingested at a training camp ahead of the tournament. WADA then lodged an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and asked the players to be suspended for two years. FIFA together with the Mexican Football Association conducted additional studies which showed that there is a public health issue in Mexico on the use of clenbuterol in the meat industry. WADA finally withdrew the appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport which results that the players are not suspended.

Volker Hesse who was leading a team of international lawyers defending the interests of the players and the Mexican FA said: “The anti-doping rules are very severe for the players which, on the one side, is necessary for a comprehensive fight against doping. On the other side, once athletes are charged with an anti-doping rule violation based on a positive doping control, their whole career is at stake and it is very difficult to prove that they are innocent even if they didn’t do anything, but to eat a piece of contaminated meat like it happened in this case. I am glad to see that justice has been done in this matter.”

Volker Hesse published an article in the September edition of the “World Sports Law Report”. Volker highlights in this publication the important amendments made to article 64 of the new version of the FIFA Disciplinary Code which entered into force on 1 August 2011. This provision, on which the FIFA Disciplinary Committee bases more than 150 decisions per year, serves as legal basis for sanctions against various parties, such as players or clubs, for a failure to respect a decision taken by a FIFA-body. Volker analyes the pratical consequences for clubs, players and associations which will be strongly affected by these changes.