{"id":24713,"date":"2025-10-03T10:38:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T08:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valloni.ch\/?p=24713"},"modified":"2025-10-03T10:38:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T08:38:31","slug":"quarterly-international-sports-law-newsletter-october-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valloni.ch\/de\/2025\/10\/03\/quarterly-international-sports-law-newsletter-october-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"QUARTERLY INTERNATIONAL SPORTS LAW NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome and Aims<\/strong>
\nWe welcome readers to the fifth 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.
\nPlease subscribe to our Newsletter by clicking here, completing and submitting the Newsletter Subscription Form<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Developments at the Firm<\/strong>
\nWe are pleased to report the following new developments at our Law Firm:<\/p>\n

Space Law<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gurur Gaye G\u00fcnal, the Head of our Turkish Law Practice and an expert on Space Law, will be one of the speakers at the International Online Seminar, via Zoom, on Space Law, Policy & Governance, which will be hosted by \u015eiraSpace on 1 November 2025.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe Seminar will address key legal and regulatory challenges in outer space activities, with a focus on practical cases including space debris, spectrum allocation, ITU (International Telecommunication Union) rules, insurance, liability for collisions, licensing, and dispute resolution.
\nIn her speech, Gurur Gaye G\u00fcnal will focus on the essential International Treaties forming the foundation of Space Law.<\/p>\n

Caster Semenya<\/strong>
\nDr Estelle Ivanova publishes this month a review of this important Caster Semenya Decision of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in the leading weekly New Law Journal (https:\/\/newlawjournal.co.uk<\/a>).
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Imane Khelif Appeal<\/strong>
\nAs usual, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is handling a wide range of sports-related disputes, and particular mention may be made of an appeal by the controversial transgender Algerian female professional boxer, Imane Khelif, who won a gold medal in the female boxing category at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, whose eligibility for the female category was based solely on the gender stated in her Passport.
\nShe has filed an appeal, on 5 August 2025, at the CAS against World Boxing concerning a decision that disallows the athlete\u2019s participation in forthcoming World Boxing events without a preliminary genetic test.
\nIn her appeal, Khelif seeks to overturn a decision by World Boxing that she \u201cwas not allowed to participate in the Box Cup in Eindhoven, nor in any World Boxing event until she had undergone genetic sex testing\u201d.
\nThe appeal also requested that CAS declare her eligible to participate in the 2025 World Boxing Championships from 4 to 14 September 2025 without a test.
\nOn 1 September 2025, CAS dismissed a request to suspend the execution of the decision by World Boxing until the case is heard.
\nThe Parties are currently exchanging written submissions, and, with their agreement, a hearing will be scheduled. CAS procedures, whilst ongoing, are confidential.<\/p>\n

Some International Olympic Committee (IOC) News<\/strong>
\nOlympic Games: IOC Working Groups<\/em><\/p>\n

The new President of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry, has set up four working groups, with the aim of reshaping the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

One of them includes the protection of women’s sport, which is an ongoing controversial issue.<\/p>\n

The other working groups will review the Olympic programme; the Youth Olympic Games; and commercial partnerships and marketing.<\/p>\n

The President had promised, when elected, to create a working group for women’s sport, stating that the IOC must „play a leading role“ on gender eligibility, and added that the new group will „look at how we can best protect the female category“.<\/p>\n

However, whilst naming the members of the other three working groups, the IOC stated that:\u00a0\u201cThe names of the members of the working group will remain confidential for now to protect the integrity of the group and its work.\u201d<\/p>\n

But added: „The group will consist of experts and international federations.“<\/p>\n

To date, the IOC has left gender regulations to the governing bodies of individual sports rather than issuing universal regulations.<\/p>\n

Several sports federations, in fact, have introduced regulations that ban athletes, who have undergone male puberty, from competing in elite female competitions.<\/p>\n

Also, in February 2025, the US President Donald Trump signed an executive order, which includes the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, preventing transgender women from competing in female categories, and added that he will deny visas for transgender athletes trying to visit the US to compete in the Games.<\/p>\n

The IOC President explained that the new groups: „Will allow us to meet deadlines and bring important technical expertise to these complex and important discussions, while realigning where we feel that it is necessary to strengthen our movement“.
\nAnd added that: „These groups will receive constant feedback to make sure that everybody is fully aligned and that all recommendations are fully integrated.“<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see what comes of this exercise, in due course.<\/p>\n

The Olympic Sports Calendar and Climate Change<\/strong>
\nAccording to the President of World Athletics, Lord Sebastian Coe, the\u00a0global calendar of Olympic sports may need to be „re-engineered“ to face the challenges posed by climate change, following the experiences of athletes competing in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September 2025, which have recently ended.<\/p>\n

During the nine days of competition, the athletes had to contend with temperatures exceeding 30C and humidity of more than 90%.<\/p>\n

Conditions were particularly difficult for the endurance events.<\/p>\n

According to Lord Coe, the marathon may need to be held separately, at a different time of the year, in order to protect athletes from unsafe conditions in future. He added that: „I do think this is probably going to have to happen at some stage, and sooner rather than later.“<\/p>\n

Climate change is certainly presenting challenges in all aspects of human life, including the organisation and staging of major international sporting events around the world.<\/p>\n

We follow all the developments at the IOC regarding the Summer and Winter Olympic Games for the benefit of our clients.<\/p>\n

World Athletics Updates Women\u2019s Sport Regulations<\/strong>
\nWorld Athletics has updated its women’s sport regulations to implement a one-time\u00a0SRY gene test\u00a0for athletes competing in the female category at world ranking competitions, effective September 1, 2025.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This decision stems from a 2023 rule change banning transgender women who underwent male puberty and a subsequent working group’s recommendation to go further.<\/p>\n

The new SRY gene test is considered a reliable proxy for biological sex, intended to preserve fairness and integrity in women’s athletics, as the majority of stakeholders agreed that only biological females should compete in the female category.<\/p>\n

In addition, World Athletics is merging its Regulations for DSD (Differences of Sex Development) and Transgender Athletes due to new evidence suggesting testosterone suppression only partially mitigates the male performance advantage.<\/p>\n

Rugby Union Football (RFU): First Woman President<\/strong>
\nIn its 154-year history, Deborah Griffin has become the first woman President of the RFU, with the aim of driving transformation within the sport.<\/p>\n

Her new role is the culmination of a life dedicated to rugby and she first took up the sport when at university.<\/p>\n

A founding member of the former Women’s Rugby Football Union in 1983, she is one of four women, who organised the first women’s Rugby World Cup in 1991, and, in 2010, became the first woman to be appointed to the RFU Council and, in 2014, the first elected female RFU Board member.<\/p>\n

Her appointment to President is yet another example of the increasing role that women are playing in sport around the world both as administrators and players.<\/p>\n

We follow and advise on developments in women\u2019s sport in Switzerland and beyond and further information is available from the relevant Heads of our Country Desks.<\/p>\n

The Settlement of Football Disputes<\/strong>
\nWe 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 complex subject in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, T\u00fcrkiye and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

These Posts have also been published on the FFAR website at \u2018www.ffar.online\u2019.<\/p>\n

We advise on all aspects of football disputes and further information is available from the relevant Heads of our Country Desks.<\/p>\n

Plea Bargaining in Italian Football Cases<\/strong>
\nWe would also draw the attention of the readers of our Newsletter to the Juventus Plea Bargains Case.
\n\"\"
\nThe recent decision of the Rome Tribunal to accept the plea bargain requests submitted by several former Juventus Football Club executives, including the former chairman, Andrea Agnelli, and the former vice-chairman, Pavel Nedved, has once again highlighted the interplay between criminal justice and sports justice, as well as the role of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in the Italian legal system.<\/p>\n

Plea bargaining, under Article 444 of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure, is a distinctive feature of the Italian criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

It is an agreement between the prosecution and the defence, which, subject to judicial approval, allows a defendant to conclude criminal proceedings with a reduced sentence, without any formal admission of guilt.<\/p>\n

In this case, the Rome Tribunal approved, on 22 September 2025, a plea bargain of one year and eight months for Agnelli and one year and two months for Nedved, both suspended sentences. Former CEO, Maurizio Arrivabene, in comparison, has had the criminal proceedings against him dismissed.<\/p>\n

This form of negotiated settlement has two key effects:<\/p>\n