Model proposal for the establishment of a Turkish Court of Arbitration for Sports

Due to the unique structure of sports, arbitration mechanism, which is one of the alternative dispute resolution methods, has been adopted instead of state judicial bodies in the resolution of sports disputes. In Turkish sports law, the arbitration system has a dual structure and is based on the distinction between football and other branches. In Turkey, the Arbitration Board under the Turkish Football Federation and the Arbitration Board under the Ministry of Youth and Sports have the authority to make final decisions within the framework of constitutional regulations. However, this dual structure causes some problems at national and international level, and it is considered that it can be unified under a single roof by taking international examples into consideration. Within the scope of this study, the structure of the existing sports arbitration boards in Turkey has been analysed and a model proposal has been developed for the establishment of a 'Turkish Court of Arbitration for Sport' based on the International Court of Arbitration for Sport model by merging the TFF Arbitration Board and the GSB Arbitration Board. The study was carried out within the framework of qualitative research method and was conducted using a semi-structured interview form with academics and lawyers who are experts in the field of sports law determined by using the purposive sampling method. The data obtained were analysed by content analysis method. As a result of the research, the necessity of establishing an effective judicial mechanism in domestic law before sports law disputes are brought to international arbitration authorities or the European Court of Human Rights has been revealed. In the proposed model of the Turkish Court of Arbitration for Sport, it is suggested that the decisions should be subject to the Supreme Court of Cassation and the individual application to the Constitutional Court should be kept open. In conclusion, it has been determined that the current bilateral arbitration system in Turkey needs to be revised and a new 'Turkish Court of Arbitration for Sport' model has been proposed by taking international sports arbitration courts as an example. Keywords: Arbitration, Sports Law, Dispute, Football, Law