Public International Sports Law: A “Forgotten” Discipline?

Abstract

International sports law has still not been fully researched (Nafziger 1999, p. 241: “The general process of international sports law is complex and confusing.” ). Therefore, it is no surprise that public international sports law—a key component of international sports law (For more on this point, see Wax 2009. )—has so far received little attention (See Siekmann and Soek 1999, p. XI: “Specific public international law (in the sense of the law of nations) with regard to … sports.” ). This is, nonetheless, somewhat surprising, since public international sports law has undergone extremely interesting developments in recent decades. The aim of the following short paper is to provide a brief overview of the previously “forgotten” discipline of public international sports law. For this purpose, a definition of the concept will first be provided, followed by a description of its main areas of application.