The Future of Sports Arbitration in Europe after the Seraing Case

Abstract

The judgment delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter, CJEU) on 1 August 2025 in the case R.F.C. Seraing v. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) once again brought back to the forefront the debate on the compatibility of sports arbitration with the requirements of European Union law, particularly with the principle of effective judicial protection. The ruling calls into question the adequacy of judicial review exercised over the awards rendered by the Tribunal Arbitral du Sport when such review is carried out by courts of States that are not members of the Union, in relation to disputes concerning the practice of sport as an economic activity carried out within the territory of the Union. The article examines the reasoning of the decision, the opinion of the Advocate General of the CJEU, its place within the Court’s jurisprudential line on sports arbitration, and the consequences of the judgment for the system of sports dispute resolution. It is argued that the Court neither undermines sports arbitration nor imposes a broad judicial review of arbitral awards but rather requires the existence of a limited form of review, confined to matters of EU public policy, as a condition for ensuring the effectiveness of the rights recognized by European Union law.