LawInSport has published the article “No Record, No Defence: Secret Ballots and the Limits of Sports Federation Autonomy (CAS 2025/A/11915)” by Prof. Suzanne Rab.

In this article, Suzanne discusses the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s award in CAS 2025/A/11915 Russian Ski Association et al. v. FIS.

A panel overturned a three-year ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes in international skiing, finding that the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) had failed to justify its decision. The award establishes that a federation voting by secret ballot on a rights-restricting decision may find itself unable to defend that outcome before a reviewing tribunal.

This article examines the FIS Award against the background of the European Table Tennis Union’s Award and the earlier FIFA and UEFA cases.

Click here to read the full article.