Following the 2023 revision of the Sports Law of the People's Republic of China—which added a dedicated chapter on sports arbitration and established the China Commission of Arbitration for Sports (CCAS)—the CCAS has published its first set of six typical cases in June 2026. Selected from 200 concluded proceedings, the representative cases span key competitive sports disputes, including challenges to sports organization decisions, athlete registrations and transfers, on-field officiating, and match result verifications.
The most prominent case involves a contractual service fee dispute between a sports agency and a professional club. The agency, which had long provided transfer and renewal services for the club, facilitated a transfer in 2024 without a formally executed written contract, subsequently leading to a fee disagreement. The club challenged the tribunal’s jurisdiction, arguing that monetary claims between commercial entities fall strictly under commercial arbitration. The tribunal rejected the challenge, ruling that sports agency activities are intrinsically linked to athlete registration and transfer, possessing a degree of industry specialization that brings them within the statutory scope of "other disputes arising from competitive sports activities.
Legal experts highlighted that the decision clearly demarcates the jurisdictional boundary of sports arbitration, establishing that sports agency disputes carry distinct industry-specific and autonomous characteristics rather than being treated as ordinary civil or commercial matters. By breaking the conventional assumption that monetary disputes between corporate entities automatically belong to commercial arbitration, the landmark ruling provides a practical legal framework for resolving complex, hybrid sports-commercial disputes.
Photo by Steven Lelham on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
