On 30 September and 1 October 2011, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol organized the 4th “Congreso de Derecho del Fútbol Internacional” in Madrid and invited sports lawyers from various countires to this event. On the program of this two day congress were the UEFA regulations on financial stability, FIFA’s position on player’s agents, the FIFA Transfer Matching Systm (TMS), the new procedural regulations of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the case law of the Swiss Federal Court on CAS-resolutions. VIVA Sports Law – Consulting was represented by Volker Hesse.

The Swiss Association of Sports Law organized its annual congress on 22 September 2011 in Bern. The high profile presentations covered matters such as corruption in sport under criminal law, illegal betting, consequences of the new “Swiss Civil Procedure Code” for the sport and the case law of the Disciplinary Committee of Swiss Olympic in doping matters. Sports lawyers from all parts of Switzerland gathered at this occasion for a lively exchange of opinions.

The European Club Association (ECA) held its annual general assembly on 5/6 September 2011 in Geneva. At this occasion, Volker Hesse from VIVA Sports Law – Consulting met representatives of some important European clubs in order to discuss current topics of professional football administration.

Volker Hesse from VIVA Sports Law – Consulting was invited for the 4th time to give a lecture at the Master of Advanced Studies in Sport Administration and Technology (MSA) in Lausanne. After presentations on disciplinary matters and other general topics in sports law in the last years, Volker focused this time on anti-doping matters and procedures at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and explained students from more than 15 different countries the challenges of an anti-doping organization from a pratical point of view.

The World Sports Law Report published an article written by Volker Hesse on “the status of athletes during their period of ineligibility” in the May edition.

Volker Hesse was invited to speak at the symposium “Berufssportrecht” on 2/3 May 2011 in Vienna. He lectured about doping in team sports and highlighted current challenges in the fight against doping in football and analysed special chapters of the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations. On the picture (f.l.t.r.): Dr. Andreas Grundei, attorney-at-law, Prof. Ulrich Haas, arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Dr. Volker Hesse, VIVA Sports Law – Consulting.

The Swiss Association of Sportslaw (ASDS) organised a one day colloquium at the University of Zurich in which many young sports lawyers participated. Many issues of current interest, like contracts in professional football, procedures at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, the american and european sports model or betting in sport have been dealt with.

Many top level sports lawyers participated at this congress organized by Early Warning System which was dedicated to the topics of match fixing and illegal betting. Systems and methods were discussed on how to tackle these issues in the future.

Hundreds of anti-doping specialists and sports lawyers participated in this event organized by UK Anti-Doping in London. Volker Hesse was invited to speak about “the status of athletes during their period of ineligibility”.

Volker Hesse becomes a member of the Swiss Sports Law Association (Association Suisse de Droit du Sport).