Union des Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA) v. Gibraltar Football Association [Gibraltar Football Association’s Application for UEFA Membership] No. 4A_392/2008 - Swiss International Arbitration Law Reports (SIALR) - 2009 Vol. 3 Nos. 1 & 2

Page Count: 

40 pages

Media Description: 

1 PDF Download

Published: 

December, 2009

Practice Areas: 

Court Decisions

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Originally from:
Swiss International Arbitration Law Reports - 2009 Vol. 3 Nos. 1 & 2

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Headnote

 

■ Awards dealing with disputes concerning membership in an

association such as UEFA may be challenged in setting aside

proceedings regardless of the amount in dispute (obiter).

 

■ A petitioner seeking to have an award set aside is under a

procedural duty arising under federal law to explain each of the

complaints made against the award in his application to set aside.

Such duty does not require the petitioner to refute each and every

point set out in its opponent’s briefs.

 

■ Called upon to review an award challenged on a jurisdictional

ground, the Federal Supreme Court will freely review questions of

law, including all preliminary questions which determine whether

the arbitral tribunal has jurisdiction (confirmation of previous

decisions).

 

■ A decision made by UEFA Congress on whether a provisional

member qualifies for membership is not a decision made by an

UEFA adjudicatory body to determine a dispute; such decision may

therefore be decided by a CAS panel as an ordinary court of

arbitration under article 61 of the UEFA Statutes.

 

Summary of the Decision

 

Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) is in charge of the organisation

of football in the territory of Gibraltar. In 1997 GFA filed an application

to become a member of FIFA; FIFA transmitted this application to

UEFA in order for UEFA to decide on the interim admission of GFA to

UEFA. A UEFA commission declared that nothing prevented such an

application from being accepted considering the bylaws in force at that

time. However, UEFA Congress modified its bylaws, setting forth new

requirements for admission which GFA did not meet.

 

The dispute between GFA and different bodies of UEFA lasted more

than ten years and gave rise to three requests for arbitration filed by GFA

 

before the CAS. Eventually, UEFA Congress decided not to admit GFA