IASL Congress maps the legal future of World football
“Sports has developed into a multifaceted activity.” These are the words that open honorary president Dimitrios Panagioutopoulos’ remarks at the 27th IASL Congress, where Legalcommunity.it, LegalcommunityMENA, and Inhousecommunity.it were present as a media partners. The idea of sport as a complex system to manage would animate all discussions throughout the day.
The Football Industry, this year’s theme, may in fact represent the litmus paper of sports law’s multi-faceted nature. The first, most evident layer of its complexity is the sheer magnitude of major events, with the FIFA World Cup as the pinnacle not only for players but also for the organisational and legal sides. The next three editions will be historically different, the result of Gianni Infantino’s goal to globalise football.
In the first panel of the day — moderated by IASL president-in-charge Majeb Garoub — US-based Daniel José Gandert, clinical professor of law at Northwestern University, shares his views on the main legal challenges posed by the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which is just around the corner. Next summer, an itinerant edition across the United States, Canada, and Mexico will have players, teams, supporters, and media travelling through different jurisdictions — both in between nations, and at the micro level, with differing federal laws across US states. In four years’ time, FIFA will double down on global reach and legal complexity, with the first intercontinental edition of the tournament. In 2030, Uruguay will host the opening kickoff, while most of the matches will be played in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. Offering the Spanish perspective, Raúl Rodríguez Porras, deputy assistant director for the legal regime of sport at the Spanish High Council for Sports, highlights the expected economic impact, with the tournament contributing more than €5 billion to Spain’s GDP and attracting significant foreign investment. Porras noted that one of the most critical areas to manage legally will be services and infrastructure, with training grounds, accommodations, and stadiums serving as the backbone of the event.
Later in the evening, engineer Luca Stabile (ARUP) and attorney Giulia Vigna (Coccia De Angelis & Associati), moderated by Prof. Gennaro Terracciano (University Foro Italico), zoomed in on the same topic, addressing the management of stadiums and sports complexes during the fifth and final session of the day. Their discussion focused on the link between legal and technical considerations. Asked by Legalcommunity about their collaboration in developing a stadium project, both Vigna and Stabile pointed to specific situations that require close communication, such as complying with environmental and landscape standards when contracting sponsorship placements on the structure.
Between these moments were three sessions focusing on the main actors within the football industry: clubs and athletes.
During session two, Francesco Cardarelli — full professor of Public Law at the University of Rome Foro Italico — moderated Massimiliano Atelli, chairman of the Control Committee of Professional Clubs, and Alkis Papantoniou, founder of A.P. Sports Law Firm, in a reflection on governance and financing for football clubs. The discussion centered on multiple club ownership, an increasingly common business model that has generated several legal complexities in recent years, due to regulatory standards that are not universal but tied to individual competitions. Highlighting several success stories, Papantoniou pointed out that the advantages of MCO — including financial and developmental support for smaller clubs, as well as centralized resources and more efficient investments — require a systematic and consistent regulatory framework across domestic, continental, and global bodies to reduce conflicts and minimise risks.
Clubs were also central in session three, where Giulia Vigna moderated a conversation with Sahra Hawary — former member of the FIFA Women’s Committee and promoter of several initiatives for women football players in Egypt and the wider Gulf region — and Poland-based Oliwia Babiarz, IASL special secretary and vice president of the foundation Law Medicine Sports for Katowice and its surroundings. Addressing the specific rights of women athletes, such as clearly regulated maternity leave, all three agreed on the need for clubs to act as facilitators rather than blockers. “I think we need more education and awareness about the steps an athlete must follow to return to full training after giving birth,” Babiarz said, “but also more clarity on where to find funds to replace a player who is pregnant.” She also shared an optimistic outlook on FIFA’s new minimum standards for women football players, noting that the level of specificity in these rules is crucial to protecting athletes’ rights.
In the fourth session, that same emphasis on specificity guided the discussion between administrative and sports law specialist Andrea Marco Colarusso and Alexandru Virgil Voicu, honorary president of the Romanian Association for the Protection of the Fundamental Rights of Athletes. They examined ethical violations with a particular focus on child athletes. Their reflection underscored a clear standard for a sport that is reaching unexplored levels of value creation and complexity, yet remains rooted in the individuals who participate in the actual game — and in their fundamental rights.
