In November, BBC Radio 5 aired an investigation into ‘the child footballers trapped by eye watering transfer deadlocks and whose careers are held to ransom by some of the game’s biggest clubs.’ In this article, Dan Chapman, Partner and Head of Sport at Leathes Prior, who contributed to the BBC Radio 5 investigation, sets out the concerns relating to claims that youth football players are being barred from joining a new club due to the ‘compensation payments’ demanded by their old club under the Elite Player Performance Plan (known as the EPPP), considers the merits to a potential legal challenge to the EPPP system, and sets out possible alternatives for finding a fair balance between the interests of the club and the player. / read more

Almost one year ago, the documentary ‘Top secret doping: how Russia makes its winners,’ aired by the German broadcaster ARD, denounced a culture of systematic and state sponsored doping in Russian athletics. The investigation indicated Russian officials were part of an intricate scheme that allowed their athletes to repeatedly use and abuse forbidden substances in an attempt to secure results in competitions. The World Anti-Doping Agency reacted by appoiting an independent commission (the ‘Commission’) to investigate these allegations. The first part of the Report issued by the Commission suggests we are far from achieving anything resembling ‘clean sport’ and that in some sports and countries the culture of cheating has infiltrated even the organisations that are supposed to protect the integrity of sport. The Commission’s findings suggest corrupt practices are ingrained not only at national level, but at the highest levels of world governing organisations. Dr. Antonio Rigozzi, Founding Partner and Head of the Sports Law and Arbitration practice at Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler and Professor of Sports Law and Arbitration at the Law School of the University of Neuchâtel, provides an analysis of the terms of reference and the outcomes of the Commission’s findings, contrasts the Report with the CIRC Report issued in March 2015 and discusses the significance of both for the future of anti-doping. / read more

Catch Me If You Can, a BBC Panorama programme aired on 3 June, has claimed that Alberto Salazar, Head of the Nike Oregon Project, encouraged athletes to use prescription medication in order to gain a competitive advantage. Former athletes and a former assistant coach have made allegations relating to doping including that 2012 Olympic silver medalist Galen Rupp was using testosterone and prednisone for many years prior to and whilst at the Nike Oregon Project. / read more