PLL Legal & Cross-Border Practice
Middle-distance runners on the final bend of the track

PLL Legal — Sport Disputes

Your world. First.

About us

A practice built for the moment the sport stops and the case starts.

PLL Legal advises athletes, clubs, federations and investors in the disputes that decide careers and seasons. We work in Switzerland, at the centre of international sports arbitration and appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

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Contract negotiation & drafting
Playing, coaching, sponsorship, agency and image rights agreements drafted so the exit is as clear as the entry.
Dispute resolution
Negotiation, mediation and arbitration — including proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
Compliance & governance
Statutes, integrity frameworks and disciplinary procedure that hold up when they are tested.
Brand protection
Trade marks, name and likeness and enforcement against misuse of an athlete's or club's identity.
Career development
Structuring moves, tax-aware planning across borders and advice at each transition point of a career.
Representation before the CAS
Full advocacy from the first submission to challenges before the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

Sport focus

Every sport has its own rulebook. We read them all.

Alpine skiing & winter sportsAnti-dopingAthleticsBaseballBasketballBoxingCricketCyclingEsportsFootballGolfGoverning bodies & athletesHandballHockeyHorse racingInternational sports arbitrationMMA & combat sportsMotorsportMulti-sport organisationsRugbySailingSkatingSwimming & aquaticsTennisTriathlonUS pro sportsVolleyballOther
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Insights

Developments shaping sports law

Football

Football agent regulation before the courts and tribunals

Service fee caps and licensing duties in the reformed agent framework have been tested in national courts and in arbitration with consequences for how mandates are drafted today.

Under construction
Governance

Competition law and the approval of new competitions

European rulings on prior-authorisation rules have pushed federations to publish transparent, reviewable criteria for sanctioning events.

Under construction
Anti-doping

Anti-doping: contamination defences and the balance of proof

A run of decisions on low-level findings and contaminated products has sharpened what an athlete must actually establish to reduce or eliminate a sanction.

Under construction
Eligibility

Eligibility and inclusion rules under review

Federation eligibility criteria continue to be challenged on proportionality and evidentiary grounds with reasoning that travels well beyond the sport at issue.

Under construction
Data

Athlete data, health information and privacy duties

Whereabouts systems, biometric monitoring and integrity databases raise data protection obligations that federations are only now formalising.

Under construction
Arbitration

Swiss Federal Tribunal review of CAS awards

The narrow grounds for setting aside an award remain narrow — which is why the case is won on the record built before the panel, not after it.

Under construction
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Contact us

Tell us what happened.

PLL Legal — Sport disputes practice
Switzerland

You can either fill in the form or send us an email directly.

Email us at info[@]pllaw.ch

All enquiries are treated as confidential. Tell us the sport, the body involved and any deadline you are facing.