Football is the most popular sport in Ghana and boasts one of the most highly rated national teams in Africa. However, the nation’s favourite sport has recently been plunged into chaos as a result of an undercover investigation that infiltrated the Ghana Football Association (‘GFA’), exposing both referees and executives that eventually saw FIFA intervening. The investigation was carried out by journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his team of reporters, and was released following years of speculation that corruption was rife in Ghanaian football. Anas set-up meetings with a number of individuals involved in Ghanaian football, including referees and executives. The footage was provided to BBC Africa Eye who thereafter exposed the scandal in a feature length documentary¹. The footage appears to show a number of referees accepting cash payments before games in both domestic and international fixtures, including the Confederation of African Football (‘CAF’) Champions League. Over 150 separate payments are reported to have been received from undercover reporters, with the involvement of over 100 officials and their bosses. As if that was not enough to spark a public outcry, the investigation also targeted an international referee, from Kenya, who was due to officiate in the 2018 World Cup, as well as the President of the GFA, Kwesi Nyantakyi, who was caught on camera accepting a cash gift of $65,000, from undercover reporters, in relation to what he considered was a potential sponsorship deal. Nyantakyi had been at the reigns of Ghanaian football for 13 years. Laura McCallum, Counsel at Lombardi Associates, dissects the fallout of the investigation, and discusses the GFA and FIFA’s efforts to move forward with restoring integrity and stability to Ghanaian football. / read more

One of the conclusions of the recent Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (‘DCMS’) report on ‘Combatting doping in sport’ related to potential abuse of the Therapeutic Use Exemptions (‘TUE’) system within elite sport, and the need for review of the TUE system to deter such abuse. This system allows for the authorised use of substances/methods normally prohibited in sport (i.e., appearing on the World Anti-Doping Agency (‘WADA’) prohibited list), as long it can be proven that they are required to treat a legitimate illness/medical condition. Dr Ian Boardley, Senior Lecturer in Sport Psychology in the School of Sport, Exercise, and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham, in this article shares his thoughts on how the TUE system might be reformed to prevent abuse in the wake of the DCMS report. / read more

The UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (‘DCMS Committee’) published its report ‘Combatting doping in sport’ on 5 March 2018, which has found amongst other things “acute failures in several different organisations in athletics and cycling” in relation to anti-doping, that the Therapeutic Use Exemptions (‘TUE’) system is open to abuse, and that subjecting doping athletes to criminal procedures and penalties would not be effective. The DCMS Committee requests that the bodies identified pay serious attention to the recommendations set out in the Report to ensure that the same failures are not allowed to happen again. / read more

The International Olympic Committee (‘IOC’) announced on 5 December 2017 the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (‘ROC’) following the issuance of the Schmid IOC Disciplinary Commission Report, which sought to establish the facts relating to the allegations of state-sponsored doping during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi detailed in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Independent Person Report, preventing Russia from competing as a nation in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. According to the IOC’s decision individual Russian athletes will have the opportunity to be invited to participate in Pyeongchang 2018 under strict conditions. The IOC’s decision to suspend the ROC with immediate effect, and which will also see the ROC made to reimburse the costs incurred by the IOC in the investigation and to contribute to the establishment of the Independent Testing Authority to the sum of $15 million, “should draw a line under this damaging episode and serve as a catalyst for a more effective anti-doping system,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. / read more

Following the hearing of the former chair of FIFA’s Governance Committee, Miguel Maduro, before the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (‘DCMS’) Committee in September 2017¹, in which Miguel provided evidence to MPs about his experiences at FIFA, World Sports Advocate spoke to Miguel about what changes he believes need to be made within FIFA, and whether he has any regrets. / read more

The Declaration of the International Olympic Committee (‘IOC’) Executive Board of 16 March 2017, puts forward 12 principles for a more robust and independent global anti-doping system to protect clean athletes, including measures on strengthening the World Anti-Doping Agency (‘WADA’), the creation of an Independent Testing Authority (‘ITA’) and the sanctioning of individuals and Code signatories. The IOC’s Declaration states that WADA ‘must be equally independent from both sports organisations and from national interests,’ because even the perception of conflicts of interest can damage the credibility of the anti-doping system. Adam Pengilly, a member of the Athlete’s Commission of the IOC, comments that he is in general agreement with the IOC’s Declaration, however with some caveats. In regards to the principles relating to the strengthening of WADA, Pengilly states that it would be helpful to define what ‘independent from sports organisations and from national interests’ means in practice. / read more

The UK Government’s Exiting the European Union Select Committee in its third report on its inquiry into the UK’s negotiating objectives for withdrawal from the European Union, published on 3 April 2017, urges the Department for Exiting the EU to continue making the argument in Government that the future system for EU migration needs to be flexible enough to meet the needs of the economy across the UK. The UK’s membership of the European Union has shaped the business of sport and how sport is governed and regulated in the UK, with significant factors including the specificity of sport, the freedom of movement of people and services, landmark rulings coming out of the European Court of Justice, and harmonised regulations. The decision to leave the EU has the potential to re-structure the sporting landscape in the UK, especially relating to the freedom of movement of people and services, which has benefited professional football, amongst others, enabling UK clubs to attract foreign professional players and enabling transfers into the EU. / read more

The International Olympic Committee (‘IOC’) has announced that it will re-analyse all the urine samples collected from Russian athletes at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi 2014 and has extended the mandate of the Oswald Commission to examine all samples collected from Russian athletes during the Olympic Games in London 2012, following the release of the second part of the Independent Person Report on 9 December 2016 carried out by Professor Richard McLaren into the accusations of institutionalised doping in Russian elite sport. / read more

In February 2015, the International Olympic Committee (‘IOC’) announced proposals to relax Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter (‘Rule 40’) - one of its most controversial rules - in time for this summer’s Rio Olympic Games. While the wording of Rule 40 itself was not altered, the IOC issued new guidelines, which - according to the IOC - would relax the restrictions imposed on athletes at previous Olympic Games with regards to the management of their image during the course of the Olympic Games. In this article Mike Morgan and Donna Bartley of Morgan Sports Law LLP look at the history of Rule 40, why it is controversial and how the new guidelines to Rule 40 were applied for the Rio Olympic Games. Mike and Donna also assess what - if anything - has improved from the athletes’ perspective. / read more

FIFA’s Independent Ethics Committee Investigatory Chamber has opened a new set of formal proceedings against former President, Sepp Blatter, former Secretary General Jérôme Valcke and former Acting Secretary General and Director of Finance & Corporate Services Markus Kattner, according to a media release on 9 September 2016. The investigation will look into potential violations of the FIFA Code of Ethics (‘FCE’) including Art. 13 (General rules of conduct), Art. 15 (Loyalty), Art. 19 (Conflicts of interest), Art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) and Art. 21 (Bribery and corruption), in the context of salaries and bonuses and other provisions included in contracts relating to the three individuals. In addition to this, a possible violation of Art. 16 (Confidentiality) will be investigated relating to Markus Kattner. / read more

The United States Olympic Committee (‘USOC’) sent letters to sponsors of individual athletes who were not official partners of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the USOC but who were using USOC trademarked hashtags on social media, warning them that such use is prohibited. According to the letter, obtained by ESPN in July 2016, the restriction included trademarked hashtags #Rio2016 and #TeamUSA. / read more