In many countries, national arbitration centers rule and adjudicate appeals of national dimensions after exhausting all internal remedies. However, some parties do not prefer resorting their appeals to their concerned national arbitration centers, and they tend to find any way to resort to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In their point of view, arbitrators of national arbitration centers lack solid sports law experience. In Egypt, the Statutes of the Egyptian Football Federation (EFA) state that CAS is the last appealing step after exhausting the following bodies: EFA’s Disputes Resolution Committee, EFA’s Appeals Committee and the Egyptian Sports Settlement and Arbitration Center (Egyptian Arbitration Center). Accordingly, in order to appeal a decision of national dimension before CAS, it is necessary to exhaust the aforementioned three steps, including the Egyptian Arbitration Center. However, in a specific Egyptian case, the appellant attempted to resort to CAS as early as possible, skipping the Egyptian Arbitration Center.
CAS 2021/A/7961 Wadi Degla SC v. EFA and Talaea El-Geish SC
The appellant, Wadi Degla, played a match against Talaea El-Geish SC (Geish) on 15 January 2021, where Geish fielded a player that Wadi Degla deemed ineligible.
Wadi Degla filed a protest before the EFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (EFA DRC). The latter ruled that Geish’s fielding of the player was not illegitimate and that the player was eligible to participate in that match because Geish obtained EFA’s prior consent.
Wadi Degla appealed the decision of the EFA DRC and submitted that the EFA’s legal opinion on the player’s eligibility did not discharge Geish from exerting all efforts and due diligence to assure the...
Why not join us?
Football Legal is an independent media publishing football law contents on a daily basis dedicated to all football law practitioners (lawyers, clubs, federations, intermediaries, football stakeholders, etc.).
Register today and stay tuned to the latest legal news.
Get started