EXTRAJUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS IN RESOLUTION OF SPORTS DISPUTES

Анотація

The article analyzes extrajudicial instances for resolving sports disputes, identifies their role and advantages
over courts. It is noted that in practice, sports relations cannot exist without disputes, and the latter can take place
between athletes, on the one hand, and coaches, sports organizations, mediators, etc., on the other hand; between
athletes (on both sides), or when an individual athlete is not a party to the dispute at all. It is established that the most
common disputes today are about objective judging, anti-doping, fair play.
As a result of the analysis of literature sources, it was found that in all national federations of Ukraine or
associations (except the Football Federation) such specialized bodies, as a rule, do not exist. The executive bodies
of the federation are empowered to resolve disciplinary disputes, and the powers to review them on appeal are
vested in higher governing bodies (for example, congresses, conferences, general meetings). This provokes situations
where sports disputes are considered by federation leaders who do not have the appropriate legal education, or even
have a legal education but do not have relevant experience in resolving such disputes, which negatively affects the
quality of sports disputes, as often unfair decisions are made or those that contradict the regulations of international
federations in certain sports.
The work of such an independent international arbitration body as the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is
authorized to resolve sports or sports-related disputes, is analyzed. These disputes are divided into two groups; Group
I includes commercial disputes arising from contractual relations between professional clubs, between clubs and
athletes, sports agents, disputes over the specifics of transfer activities, agreements on the transfer or distribution
of television and other media rights, etc., and group II – disciplinary disputes considered by the Court of Arbitration
for Sport as a court of the first instance or a court of appeal in the case of a dispute between national authorities.
It is concluded that to protect the rights and legitimate interests of sports entities, there is an extensive
system of national and international out-of-court bodies for resolving sports disputes. Despite this, Ukraine has an
underdeveloped system of such bodies, as only the football sphere has an effective mechanism for resolving sports
disputes at the national level, and therefore there is a significant need to establish a Sports Arbitration Court under
the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine to protect the rights of other sports.