Barca scandal is ‘serious’ but Ceferin makes no comment on detail
April 6 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin believes the refereeing scandal facing Barcelona is a massively serious issue for the Spanish giants.
Legal
Former Haitian referees boss Rosnick Grant loses CAS appeal over life ban for sexual abuse
March 31 – FIFA’s lifetime ban on former Haitian Football Federation vice-president and head of referees Rosnick Grant has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Shakhtar Donetsk appeal to EC over change to player contract rule that has cost them €40m
March 31 – Shakhtar Donetsk have filed a complaint against FIFA to the European Commission, claiming the global governing body’s ruling allowing foreign players to suspend their contracts has cost them €40 million.
Swiss prosecutors consign FIFA museum case to the past
March 30 – Swiss authorities have announced the end of legal proceedings against former FIFA president Sepp Blatter (pictured) over the alleged mismanagement of FIFA’s Zurich museum.
Belgians go to court to challenge gambling ad ban that will rip out 12% of football’s revenue
March 24 – Belgian football is joining the rest of the Belgian sports industry in going to court to challenge a total ban on gambling advertising in the country.
UEFA opens own probe into Barca payments to top referee in ‘Caso Negreira’ case
March 23 – UEFA has announced it has opened its own investigation into the millions of dollars of payments made by Barcelona to the former vice president of Spain’s referees’ committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
FIFA goes to Swiss courts to overturn CAS’s release of Jean-Bart back into football
March 21 – Claiming that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) failed “to evaluate key pieces of evidence” and “substantive flaws” in their reasoning, global governing body FIFA has appealed the court’s decision to overturn the lifetime ban on the former president of the Haitian Football Federation (FHF) Yves Jean-Bart.
Three year ban and suspended jail sentence for fan who sent racist Twitter abuse to Toney
March 15 – A man who racially abused Premier League striker Ivan Toney has been banned from every football stadium in Britain for three years in what police say is a “landmark ruling”.
Former Fox TV exec Lopez found guilty of bribing South American football bosses
March 10 – The follow-up and fall-out from the FIFAgate scandal is still working its way through US courts with the former head of Fox International Channels Hernan Lopez convicted on charges that he participated in a scheme to bribe South American soccer officials.
UEFA to review homegrown player rules after ECJ says they could be discriminatory
March 10 – UEFA could be forced into tweaking its homegrown player rule after a senior lawyer at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said it was partially incompatible with the European Union’s free movement laws.
Swiss justice clears Infantino in ‘Geneva-jet-case’ with message that it is OK to lie
By Paul Nicholson
March 9 – Swiss prosecutors have dropped the criminal investigation into FIFA president Gianni Infantino for the charter of a private jet between Suriname and Geneva in 2017.
Marseille appeal case over Gueye €2.5m fine begins
March 9 – High-flying Marseille went to court Wednesday in a dispute with English tier-two Watford over the 2020 signing of Senegal midfielder Pape Gueye.
Controversial Zamalek boss Mansour jailed for defamation of rival Al Ahly president
March 1 – The president of leading Egyptian side Zamalek, Mortada Mansour (pictured), has been jailed for a month for “verbally insulting” his counterpart at bitter Cairo rivals Al Ahly.
CAS sheds light on Yves-Bart decision. A win for sports law or a catastrophic failure by FIFA?
By Paul Nicholson
February 28 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), generally condemned by football’s stakeholders both privately and publicly for overturning the lifetime ban on former President of the Haitian Football Federation (FHF) Yves Jean-Bart for multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, has issued the reasoned arbitral award.
Former judges sceptical of Super League’s chances of winning in upcoming ECJ ruling
February 27 – Two former judges of the European Court of Justice believe UEFA will win their case in the spring against the promoters of the Super League.