Bucerius Law School shines at the International Football Arbitration Moot!

Bucerius Law School shines at the International Football Arbitration Moot!

From May 8th to 11th, 2025, the International Football Arbitration Moot (IFAM) took place in Platja D’Aro, Spain. Bucerius Law School was represented in this important competition by a talented team of four members: Tara Piaszinski, Johanna Klecz, Philip Neumann and Felix Renner, all from the class of 2022. The team showed an impressive performance and reached the semi-finals, but was ultimately defeated by the team from the University of Hamburg.

What is particularly noteworthy is that Bucerius Law School was recognized for the best claimant brief. This recognition is a testamentary success for the team, which worked under the guidance of experienced coaches such as Hannah von Below, Tillmann Kruse, Clemens Jungfer and Sandro Birkenhof. They were also supported by Martin Schimke, Bird & Bird, Freshfields, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Haas and the law firm HEUKING supported, which underlines the importance of networking and mentoring in legal training.

Competition details and structure

The IFAM competition offers participants the opportunity to gain deeper insights into sports law. As part of the competition, the teams dealt with fictitious sports law cases before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The teams must study relevant legal sources, including the FIFA statutes and the regulations and case law of the CAS. Participation requires the preparation of two written documents, which together comprise around 25 pages, as well as the oral hearing with witness examination.

The competition itself began with the announcement of the case on February 24, 2025, followed by an intensive pleading phase in which the teams had to prepare both a statement of claim for a sports law issue and a response to a given model statement of claim. The aim of these tasks is to analyze the case from different perspectives - from both the plaintiff and the defendant's perspective.

The oral negotiations that took place on the final days of the competition are the highlight of the IFAM. The exchange between the participating teams as well as the evaluation by renowned sports lawyers and experienced referees enrich the experience and promote learning in the field of sports law.

Conditions of participation and perspectives

The IFAM is open to all students enrolled in a law school in 2024 or 2025, regardless of their legal degree, be they bachelor's, LLM or PhD students. Interested parties who are not yet admitted to systems with a bar association may not have more than two years of professional experience after qualification.

Participating students who have already taken part in one of the oral rounds as oralists are only allowed to take part as coaches, which underlines the strict conditions of participation. These regulations ensure that competition remains fair and attractive for legal talent.

Overall, the IFAM not only contributes to the students' academic education, but also offers the opportunity for networking and a deeper insight into the facets of international sports law. The successful participation, as experienced by the Bucerius Law School team, once again proves the high importance of this type of competition in legal training.

For further information and details about the IFAM you can visit the website law-school.de, ifam-team.de and sportsarbitrationmoot.com can be accessed.