FIFA STATUTES

VIII. ARBITRATIONArticle59 Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)Article 61 ObligationArticle1 FIFA recognises the independent Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)with headquarters in Lausanne (Switzerland) to resolve disputesbetween FIFA, Members, Confederations, Leagues, clubs, Players,Officials and licensed match agents and players’ agents.2 The provisions of the CAS Code of Sports-Related Arbitration shallapply to the proceedings. CAS shall primarily apply the various regulationsof FIFA and, additionally, Swiss law.60 Jurisdiction of CAS1 Appeals against final decisions passed by FIFA’s legal bodies andagainst decisions passed by Confederations, Members or Leaguesshall be lodged with CAS within 21 days of notification of the decisionin question.2 Recourse may only be made to CAS after all other internal channelshave been exhausted.3 CAS, however, does not deal with appeals arising from:(a) violations of the Laws of the Game;(b) suspensions of up to four matches or up to three months;(c) decisions against which an appeal to an independent and dulyconstituted arbitration tribunal recognised under the rules ofan Association or Confederation may be made.4 The appeal shall not have a suspensive effect. The appropriate FIFAbody or, alternatively, CAS may order the appeal to have a suspensiveeffect.5 The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), is entitled to appeal to CASonly in cases of doping decisions after every internal channel hasbeen exhausted at FIFA, Confederation or Association level.1 The Confederations, Members and Leagues shall agree to recogniseCAS as an independent judicial authority and to ensure thattheir members, affiliated Players and Officials comply with the decisionspassed by CAS. The same obligation shall apply to licensedmatch and players’ agents.2 Recourse to ordinary courts of law is prohibited unless specificallyprovided for in the FIFA regulations.3 To ensure the foregoing, the Associations shall insert a clause intheir statutes stipulating that their clubs and members are prohibitedfrom taking a dispute to ordinary courts of law and are requiredto submit any disagreement to the jurisdiction of the Association,the appropriate Confederation or FIFA.4041