QUARTERLY INTERNATIONAL SPORTS LAW NEWSLETTER – JULY 2025
Welcome and Aims
We welcome readers to the third issue of our International Sports Law Newsletter, which appears quarterly, and aims to update you on developments and activities in our international sports law practice.
Please subscribe to our Newsletter by clicking here, completing and submitting the Newsletter Subscription Form.
Developments at the Firm
We are pleased to report the following new developments at our Law Firm:
Gurur Gaye Günal joins our Law Firm
We are very pleased to welcome Gurur Gaye Günal to our Law Firm.
Gurur is an experienced Turkish Attorney with 26 years of professional practice in Sports Law, Arbitration, Mediation, Intellectual Property, Contract Law, and a particular specialism in International Space Law.
A Graduate of the Law Faculty of Istanbul University, she also holds a Master’s Degree in Space Law from the University of Luxembourg.
She is also a published author and an international lecturer in Sports Law and Space Law.
She legally represents athletes and clubs before WADA, IAAF, CAS, UEFA, and FIFA.
She is also Head Legal Consultant for Şira International Space Research Inc., a company at the forefront of pioneering a brighter and more sustainable future in interstellar space, where she advises on international space law matters.
Of her appointment, Dr Lucien Valloni, the Founder and Managing Partner of Valloni Attorneys at Law, remarked as follows:
“We are very fortunate indeed to add her professional knowledge and extensive experience and inter-disciplinary legal skills to our Law Firm and are certain that she will make an important and unique contribution to our Law Firm and our clients as Head of our Turkish Law Practice.”
She may be contacted directly by telephone and email at:
D +41 44 515 48 61
M +90 0532 372 90 29
gunal@valloni.ch
Kim Gamboni also joins our Law Firm
We are very pleased to welcome Kim Gamboni to our Law Firm.
Kim is a Swiss Attorney, admitted to all Swiss Courts, and specialising in litigation, sports arbitration, and business consulting for international high-net-worth clients.
She will practise at our Zurich office and brings with her valuable experience, gained in the litigation department of another leading Zurich law firm, as well as at the Criminal Court of Basel.
She holds an LL.M. in Law & Technology from Tel Aviv University, Israel, as well as an M. Law from Basel University.
Of her appointment, our Founder and Managing Partner, Dr. Lucien Valloni, remarked:
“We welcome Kim Gamboni to our Law Firm, where she will add value to the Firm and our clients in her specialist fields of legal practice.”
She may be contacted directly by telephone and email as follows:
Estelle Ivanova gains LVMH Certificate
We are also very pleased to announce that Estelle Ivanova, of Counsel and Head of our French Law Practice Group, has successfully completed the Inside LVMH Certificate – an intellectually enriching programme created by the LVMH Group and its iconic Maisons, including Louis Vuitton; Dior; TAG Heuer; Moët Hennessy; Berluti; Tiffany & Co.; Chaumet; and other distinguished consumer brands.
This unique learning programme offers a comprehensive immersion into the strategic foundations of the luxury goods industry. It explores key pillars, such as creation and design; brand management; retail excellence; digital marketing; sustainability; creative circularity; traceability; transparency; customer experience; innovation; and inclusion.
Building on her expertise in EU law, international law, sports law, and arbitration, Estelle examined the growing and important interface between the luxury goods industry and high-level sport – a dynamic field where values of excellence, heritage, performance, and global influence converge.
She was particularly interested in how LVMH strategically bridges these worlds, notably through its role as Premium Partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Games, and its historic 10-year global partnership with Formula 1®, beginning in 2025.
Estelle also closely follows recent developments, such as the Louis Vuitton official partnership with Real Madrid; the Loro Piana renewed sponsorship of the Giraglia Regatta; and the broader LVMH Group commitments to ethical conduct, social responsibility, and sustainability, as expressed in the LVMH Code of Conduct and Supplier Code of Conduct.
Her completion of this Certificate aligns seamlessly with the ability of our Law Firm to support clients in the luxury, sport, and lifestyle sectors, and reflects our commitment to delivering cross-sector legal expertise at the highest level.
For more information, please email her at ivanova@valloni.ch.
Sara Botti appointed Honorary Italian Consul
We are very proud to announce that the Head of our Italian Desk, Avv. Sara Botti, has been appointed Honorary Italian Consul in Dietikon, a suburb of Zurich.
Our Founder and Managing Partner, Dr Lucien Valloni, commented on her appointment as follows:
“We wish her well in this new role and are certain that her combined knowledge of Italian and Swiss law will prove to be a great asset!”
Amendments to the CAS Code in force from 1 July 2025
The International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS), the Governing Body of CAS, has made amendments to the Code of Sport-Related Arbitration (Code) and Schedule of Costs to improve the service offering of CAS procedures.
These amendments came into effect as of 1 July 2025, for all cases filed on and after this date.
To be noted:
- The role of CAS in-house clerks has been inserted into the Code.
- The rules applicable for expedited Ordinary procedures (non-appeal) have been clarified.
The amended Code can be found here.
The amended Schedule of Costs can be found here.
These documents are also available in French and Spanish and in the Useful Documents section of the CAS official website at ‘www.tas-cas.org’.
Some International Olympic Committee (IOC) News
The IOC has recommended that international sports federations and sports events organisers allow athletes holding Russian or Belarusian Passports to compete in international sporting competitions. This represents a significant development and perhaps a controversial one, in view of the continuing war in Ukraine and ongoing geopolitical tensions in the world.
The IOC ‘New Norm’, which is an ongoing initiative aiming to make the Games more affordable, beneficial, and sustainable in a variety of ways, including promoting the use of sustainable building materials and upcycling venues, is focussing on the organisation and staging of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The French Alps have now been officially awarded the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, on 9 April 2025, on which date the IOC Executive Board countersigned the host contract.
We follow all the developments at the IOC for the benefit of our clients.
‘Ambush Marketing’
We would draw the attention of the readers of our Newsletter to the series of Posts, which we have recently published on our website, on this controversial subject in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.
This unfair marketing and anti-competitive practice, in a business and economic sense, is of constant concern to sports events organisers and their official sponsors and undermines the integrity of their sports and the value of their sponsorships respectively.
We advise sports events organisers and sponsors on all aspects of combatting ‘ambush marketing’ and further information is available from the relevant Heads of our Country Desks.
In fact, our International Sports Law Consultant, Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw, has published, on 11 July 2025, an article on the subject of ‘Ambush Marketing and the 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro Tournament’ in the New Law Journal (www.newlawjournal.co.uk), a leading weekly legal publication in the United Kingdom, which was established in 1822!
European Union (EU) Competition Law and Sport
Another issue of concern to clients is the interface between Sport and EU Competition Law and its various practical implications in relation to the organisation of sports events and the marketing and broadcasting of them. This important subject has been covered in several recent Posts on our website to which we would draw the attention of the readers of our Newsletter.
In fact, the Head of our French Desk, Dr Estelle Ivanova, who is an expert in this field, has published a comprehensive article on ‘Sport and the European Union’ in the June 2025 issue of ‘Sports Law and Taxation’ (www.sportslawandtaxation.com), a leading quarterly international publication on sports legal and sports tax issues.
Regulation of Association Football
We have also been covering on our website the regulation of association football in various jurisdictions, and we reproduce the latest Post on Türkiye by the new member of our Law Firm, Gurur Gaye Günal:
“Association football is very popular throughout Türkiye, and it is fair to say that it is widely regarded as something of a religion, especially as it binds people together in a common endeavour, although Türkiye is a secular State.
In Türkiye, football is essentially regulated by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF).
The TFF is solely responsible for organising and regulating football at the national level, and overseeing a professional football league system, including the ‘Süper Lig’, which is the highest level of the professional game in Türkiye.
The TFF regulates domestic football players’ transfers through its “Regulation on the Status and Transfers of Professional Football Players” and international transfers of players are subject to the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfers of Players. In such cases, International Transfer Certificates are required by FIFA for foreign players to be licensed by the TFF.
A particular feature of football transfers in Türkiye is that the ground-breaking 1995 Bosman ruling, which allowed football players to transfer freely after their contracts had expired, does not apply to domestic transfers in Türkiye, that is, transfers from one Turkish football club to another. The reason for this is that Bosman primarily affects transfers between clubs in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA), neither of which is Turkey a member. This means that football players in Türkiye may not engage in transfer negotiations with other Turkish clubs before their contracts with their current clubs have expired.
However, the Bosman ruling has had a significant impact on European football as a whole, and this has led to the TFF increasing its foreign players quotas. In turn, this has made it easier for Turkish football clubs to attract and retain more international talent, which has led to a good effect on the development of local players and the competitiveness of Turkish football clubs in international competitions.
The TFF also implements a club licensing system, which is based on UEFA standards, including financial fair play requirements, to ensure, as far as possible, the financial stability of Turkish Football clubs. In other words that they operate within their financial means.
The TFF also imposes penalties, including fines and points deductions, on Turkish football clubs that engage in illegal betting. In this respect, the TFF applies strict rules on the use of stadium advertising relating to illegal betting.
Professional football players’ contracts of employment are, generally, for fixed terms of one year or more, and must be registered with the TFF, copies of which are retained by the club, the TFF, and the notary public, before whom they must be signed.
These contracts should always include the key terms on such matters as salary, bonuses, image rights, and should also cover any other special situations/arrangements of the employment that may have been agreed between the football players and their Turkish clubs.
Also, players should ensure that match bonus entitlements are clearly quantified in their contracts of employment and specified in each payment receipt.
Football players contracts of employment may be terminated in Türkiye by either party with the required written notice, in accordance with the statutory notice periods laid down in Turkish Labour Law.
It may be added that the TFF has been urged to issue standard terms and conditions for football players contracts of employment but has not yet done so.
As regards disputes arising under football players contracts of employment in Türkiye, they are primarily resolved within the TFF. The TFF Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) is the first-instance body for settling these disputes. Decisions of the DRC can be appealed to the Arbitration Committee of the TFF, which serves as the appellate body. Ultimately, international players and clubs can also seek settlement through the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber and on appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and, in limited circumstances, on further appeal to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.
From there, it is possible to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) if a breach under the European Convention on Human Rights can be established. For example, lack of due process under Article 6.1 of the Convention, as occurred in the case of Ali Rizza, in which the Founder and Managing Partner of this Law Firm, Dr Lucien Valloni, successfully represented the football player. See Final Judgment of the ECtHR issued on 22 June 2020. The ECtHR also called for a reform of the TFF system for the settlement of football disputes, which, to date, has not been fulfilled, although FIFPRO, the international football players’ union, is currently discussing the matter with the TFF.”
We act in football transfers in Türkiye, including contracts of employment and disputes, and further information and advice may be obtained from Gurur Gaye Günal, the Head of our Turkish Law Practice, by emailing her at ‘gunal@valloni.ch’.
Fiscal Fair Play in Italian Football
Whilst on the subject of the regulation of association football, we would also mention the recent Decision of the Italian National Federal Tribunal (TFN), Disciplinary Section, which has imposed upon Italian Football Club Brescia Calcio (Brescia) a sporting sanction consisting of an eight-points deduction, to be partially served during the 2024/2025 Serie B season (four points) and, for the remainder, during the 2025/2026 campaign.
As well as this disciplinary measure, a six-month disqualification has been imposed upon the top executives of Brescia, Massimo Cellino (President) and Edoardo Cellino (CEO).
These sanctions were the result of unlawful fiscal and social security-related practices, deemed capable of undermining both the competitive integrity and managerial transparency of the professional football ecosystem.
Following the conclusion of the fact-finding inquiry, the Federal Prosecutor referred Brescia and its senior executives to TFN, alleging breaches of Articles 4, 31, and 33 of the Code of Sports Justice, in conjunction with Article 85 of the NOIF (Internal Organisational Rules of the FIGC (Italian Football Federation)).
A pivotal factor in the determination of the sanction imposed was the direct responsibility of the senior management of Brescia. The TFN found that Massimo and Edoardo Cellino had acted with gross negligence in engaging a third-party intermediary, Gruppo Alfieri SPV, without exercising due diligence as to the legitimacy and enforceability of the credits in question.
The TFN decision sets a notable precedent in the field of sports justice, reaffirming that the actual fulfilment of tax and social security obligations constitutes a non-negotiable precondition for legitimate participation in professional sports competitions.
The consequences for Brescia are immediate and severe: relegation to Serie C (barring an appeal); a competitive handicap for the forthcoming season; and the temporary ineligibility of the executives to hold any official positions.
More broadly, however, the Brescia case serves as a cautionary tale for all professional sports clubs that fiscal and contributory transparency is not merely a matter of ethical compliance, but a fundamental legal requirement for sporting integrity.
We act in all legal and fiscal aspects of Italian football, including disputes, and further information may be obtained by emailing the Head of our Italian Desk, Avv. Sara Botti, at botti@valloni.ch.
Careers with Valloni Attorneys at Law
We are always looking to recruit further well-qualified and motivated members of our Team, who, in line with the ethos of our Law Firm, are focussed on results, and we should be very pleased to hear from such candidates, who should email their CVs to our Managing Partner, Dr Lucien Valloni, at ‘valloni@valloni.ch’.
Further Information and Advice
For further details of any of the sports law issues covered in this Newsletter, please refer to the NEWS section of our website.
Also, for any professional advice and assistance on any of these issues, or, indeed, on any other matters, especially sports-related disputes of a sporting or a commercial/financial nature, which are a particular specialism of our Law Firm, please email our Founder and Managing Partner, Dr Lucien Valloni, at ‘valloni@valloni.ch’.
© VALLONI Attorneys at Law 2025 and All rights reserved.