On September 27, 2019, Llinks Partner Attorney David Wu was invited with his colleagues Tomas Pereda and Giandonato Marino to the 8th International Congress on Football Law held in Madrid at the Headquarters of the Spanish Football Association.
The International Congress on Football Law was first established by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (hereinafter "FIFA") in 2012, and since then attached the most authority in the global expertise of football law. The 8th congress was jointly held by the Spanish Football Association, attracting more than 400 officials, experts, lawyers and other practitioners for in-depth communication on the future trends of football law.
The congress was divided to be held in two days, and specially invited officials and arbitrators from Court of Arbitration for Sports (hereinafter "CAS") to analyze on major issues from a prospective other than the traditional view of FIFA. The congress began with the presentation of Mr. Matthieu Reeb, CAS Secretary General on "The new CAS Anti-doping Division and the Applicable Procedural Rules", and invited CAS arbitrators to elaborate with the CAS jurisprudence on football law from 2017-2019. As the supreme dispute resolution institution in the world of sports, CAS demonstrated its smooth connection with FIFA, and presented the participants with a much clearer image of the whole vertical mechanism of dispute resolution in football.
The congress then eyed on the reform of the FIFA regulations through the discussion among the FIFA Chief Legal Officer, FIFA Senior Legal Counsel, FIFPro Senior Legal Counsel and pioneering sports lawyers. Despite the amendments to regulations on the status and transfer of players, the congress also covered the topical insolvency issues of clubs as well as third-party player ownership disputes.
As one of the most renowned Chinese CAS arbitrators, Attorney Wu has also gathered a wealth of experience in dispute resolution either at the level of Chinese, Asian or international football-related disputes. The congress has further presented the most frontier development in practice, and will enable Llinks Law Offices to follow closely the development of international sports law.
