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07 November 2025
Issue: 8138 / Categories: Legal News , Sports law , Arbitration , International , Profession , EU , Competition , Public
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NLJ this week: EU law trumps sports arbitration

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RFC Seraing v FIFA, in which the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) reaffirmed that awards by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) may be reviewed by EU courts on public-policy grounds, is under examination in this week's NLJ by Dr Estelle Ivanova of Valloni Attorneys at Law, Zurich

The case stemmed from FIFA’s ban on third-party ownership of players’ rights, challenged as anti-competitive.

Ivanova notes that the judgment upholds CAS efficiency while asserting EU law’s supremacy—competition law being central to EU public policy. Crucially, if an arbitral award has not been subject to judicial review within an EU jurisdiction, it cannot claim finality (res judicata) when EU principles are engaged.

The decision, Ivanova writes, integrates sports arbitration into the EU legal order, ensuring fundamental rights prevail even over arbitral autonomy.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Partner joins commercial property team in Taunton office

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Londstanding London firm appoints new senior partner

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Commercial team in London welcomes technology specialist as partner

NEWS
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection? 
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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