Swiss Arbitration Decisions

The case involved a sport arbitration and three contracts with conflicting arbitration or jurisdiction clauses.

The decision of February 10, 2010 again originated from sport arbitration and as you will see from the text of the opinion, the Swiss Federal Tribunal took the somewhat unusual step of actually mentioning the names of the parties in the decision published on the website of the Federal Tribunal.

The case involved a Turkish football club and a professional player with which the club had an employment relationship. The player was then injured and ultimately the club sought damages before the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, which awarded a substantial amount on January 9, 2009. Both Parties appealed and on June 7, 2010, a panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) composed of Mr. Efraim Barak as Chairman, with Mr. Michel Bernasconi and Mr.

The case issued on September 20, 2011 by the Swiss Supreme Court involved the International Boxing Association (“AIBA”), a non-profit association (association, Verein) organized under Swiss law and based in Lausanne. In 2005, the AIBA and a company manufacturing and supplying sport equipment entered into a license agreement (“the Licensing Agreement”) for one year renewable, pursuant to which the company could manufacture boxing equipment approved by the AIBA against payment of a royalty.

The matter concerned a contract between two professional football clubs containing certain provisions with regard to compensation and other amounts to be paid as a consequence of the transfer of a professional player. The first contract, dated July 17, 2007, was concluded with the assistance of a company active in the transfer of players for one of the clubs.

At issue was an award issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the matter of a Luxembourg racing cyclist who entered into a self-employment agreement in 2010 with a company managing a cycling team. Furthermore, an agreement on image rights gave the team the right to exploit the cyclist’s image against compensation. When he was found positive in a doping control during the 2012 Tour de France, the cyclist left the competition whilst continuing to train with the team.

The case will confirm that the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) is likely to remain a very significant source of Swiss jurisprudence on international arbitration for some time. The CAS is based in Lausanne, as you know, and the number of decisions it issues is important.