CAS Opens Abu Dhabi Centre

The Abu Dhabi Centre of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is now open after an official launch by the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD).

It is the first Alternate Hearing Centre for CAS, which settles disputes in sport and has its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, with further offices in New York and Sydney.

The centre is the first of three centres CA plans to open in Asia and the Middle East and Mohammed Al Kamali, secretary general of the UAE National Olympic Committee, believes the court will be up and running within six months.

Sultan Saeed Al Badi, undersecretary of the ADJD, said: “The ADJD and CAS had signed the agreement in February under directions from Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department.

“This CAS centre in Abu Dhabi is a directive of Sheikh Mansour since it will help the department in achieving its strategic goals through improved judicial specialisation at local, regional and international levels. It will also support the development of sports in the region by raising professional and legal aspects of the field.

“We are looking forward to providing a platform of excellence to organise meetings, seminars and other activities related to the development and promotion of sports’ legal aspects in the region.”

John D. Coates, President of CAS, confirmed two other centres in the region will open later in Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai.

“Sport is part of society and we were very keen to make our services available in the Middle East and I think this is a very good centre for it.

“Increasingly the Middle East is going to be seen more and more. Abu Dhabi has the [Formula 1] grand prix here, Dubai has so many events, Qatar is getting ready for the World Cup. This is a very stable city, stable government and we are very comfortable being based here.”

Coates said the court’s laws would soon be translated into Arabic and it is understood cases heard in Abu Dhabi will be sent to CAS for a final verdict.