Fifa Circular 827

To the national associations
of FIFA

Circular no. 827

Zurich, 10 December 2002
GS/oon

Arbitration Tribunal for Football (TAF) – Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)

Dear GeneralSecretary,
As you will recall, the Extraordinary FIFA Congress held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 7 July
2001, decided the creation of an arbitration tribunal for football and, following this decision,the FIFA administration initially opted to establish an entirely independent arbitration
tribunal with its own infrastructure and administration.
However it soon became apparent to FIFA that thefinances made available to found the
International Chamber for Football Arbitration (CIAF) were far from sufficient to fulfil its
objectives of establishing and maintaining an independent arbitrationchamber for football.
Furthermore, it was acknowledged that the measures required to set up such an
independent project have proved to be too time-consuming in view of the time constraints
imposed bythe necessity of implementing the new juridical system in accordance with the
FIFA Statutes.
At its last meeting held in Zurich, Switzerland, on 23/24 September 2002, the FIFA Executive
Committeeacknowledged that the project to set up a totally independent arbitration tribunal
as originally foreseen was not possible. In view of the above, the Executive Committee
instructed the FIFAPresident to evaluate alternatives that could guarantee the same results.
In particular, the possibility for FIFA to recognise the jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration
for Sport (CAS) was considered.Moreover, the Executive Committee mandated the President
to carry out all actions he would deem necessary in order to achieve the aforementioned
purpose.
After intense and very constructivediscussions carried out between FIFA and the
International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS), the foundation that runs the CAS, the
latter has agreed to the creation of a specific list of arbitrators...