Autors: SportsLawyer
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Hockey championship in Riga
In 2023 Riga is hosting its second IIHF ice hockey world championship in 3 years. The previous one was in 2021, in a semi-pandemic world. How many cities or countries have been able to manage that many world championships in such a short time? What is special with ##IIHFWorlds this time? State aid for the…
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Sports agents – article of May’23 in Sporta Avīze
The Latvian profession classification recognizes sports agents as a job. In real life it is very rare to be employed as sports agents. The State Revenue Service – the tax authority, as we call it here – has excluded this profession from average earnings reports due to there being less than 10 representatives. In this…
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Who owns the sports – article in March’23 Sporta Avīze
The real owners of sports teams in Latvia is a sensitive topic. We summarize the choice of legal entity form – can you imagine how the sports teams in most popular leagues’ actually organize their affairs? After the raise of “ultimate beneficiary” concept, some organizations have dared to disclosed who in reality is their “boss”,…
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Gender equality – article of January ’23 in Sporta Avīze
The gender equality has been on the agendas of sports bodies for some time now. Typically, we look at the prize monies and salaries of men vs. women to detect (in)equality. The article of January’s Sporta Avīze addresses the matter beyond just finances being the only criteria of gender equality. The article is available also…
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Assisting a footballer in salary dispute
We have successfully advised a former Latvian national Team Footballer in his dispute against his employer, a Latvian higher division club. Here are some of the key takeaways from the process, useful to know for everyone involved with Football. Player vs. Club position The football club had not paid salaries for several periods to the…
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Football club licensing 2021 review
Football club licensing in 2021 in Latvia offered some unexpected turns. Latvian football expansion Virslīga, the Latvian Higher League, in 2020 contained 10 teams. For two seasons in row the league attempted expansion. Compared to 2019, the league had expanded by one team (nine teams finished the season in 2019). similar trend as a year…
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Terminating a sports employment contract in Latvia
In Latvia, in the sports industry an employment contract can be terminated by either the club (the employer) or the athlete / a coach (the employee), but certain procedures must be followed. Most often, a mutual termination agreement is signed due to the procedural requirements and their complexity for a termination by one party. Termination…
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Employment disputes in sports arbitration: comparing Latvia and Lithuania
In the Sports Law all and any disputes are often subject to “specialised dispute resolution bodies” and different arbitrations. Sports organizations usually do not distinguish employment or labor disputes from the other disputes that might arise. There have been discussions as to the principle, and different countries have their own rules for this. National jurisdictions…
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Consumer Law applies to sports agents
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia made a ruling, in the capacity of cassation instance, on the contract of an athlete (signed by the parents) with a “sports development agency”. The first round at the Supreme court was reviewed in 2020. This article will cover the judgment of 2020, which has been made…