FIFA's Football Tribunal

Abstract

Global football governance relies on the football regulatory regime and self-regulatory mechanisms designed by FIFA. The substantive and procedural rules of FIFA regulate relations between global football bodies and relevant stakeholders. FIFA’s affiliated associations, such as confederations and national associations, can rely on a minimum standard of international football administration found in various sets of FIFA’s substantive and procedural rules. The self-regulation of FIFA provides the key concept that FIFA’s dispute resolution procedure should be independent from other branches of international and national bodies. Therefore, at the global level, the dispute resolution system within the FIFA framework holds great importance. This system is created through FIFA’s autonomous self-regulation or by agreement among FIFA’s affiliated associations in the form of the Football Tribunal and its Chambers. These bodies work with FIFA’s independent judiciary to provide an autonomous judicial process for the settlement of football-related disputes, where FIFA decision-making bodies make binding decisions in global football. The reforms to FIFA’s dispute resolution bodies, announced by FIFA in 2021 and outlined in more detail in the Procedural Rules Governing the Football Tribunal (Procedural Rules), are part of a wider picture of the new FIFA dispute resolution procedure. This paper critically analyzes the functions of the FIFA Football Tribunal, including the process of resolving football-related disputes between different global football parties and the judicial application of FIFA’s substantive and procedural rules.