Professor J.H.H. Weiler
Fall 2024
Tuesday, 6:40 to 8:40 pm
Furman Hall, Room 310
LAW-LW.10127.001
2 Credits
Football (soccer) is by far the most popular sport worldwide. It is also a multi-billion-dollar business of considerable political import. In recent years, it has been shaken by scandal, both financial and political, prompting widespread calls for reform. These events have drawn attention to the nature, complexities, and shortcomings of the governance of sport at the transnational level.
As one of the most significant examples of global governance beyond the classical intergovernmental model, sport governance raises unique issues of legality, legitimacy, democracy, transparency, and accountability. The seminar will explore this model of transnational governance, and its various social, economic, political, and legal causes and consequences, through the study of FIFA and the global football system.
Students will gain an understanding of current football governance controversies – from financial corruption to human rights violations – through an exploration of FIFA’s historical foundations, remarkable expansion, and contemporary status. This will involve critical examination of FIFA’s internal structures and procedures as well as its relationship with other members of the “football family”, including regional confederations, national associations, leagues, clubs, athletes, and sponsors. Particular attention will be given to accountability mechanisms (or the lack thereof) – both internal and external, judicial and non-judicial. The aim is to illuminate the conceptual, legal, and practical challenges of, and ameliorative possibilities for, the transnational governance of football and of sport more broadly.
Guest Speaker schedule*:
Tuesday, October 22, 2024: Dr. Arnout Geeraert, Assistant Professor, Utrecht University, Utrecht School of Governance
Tuesday, October 29, 2024: Mr. Evan Norris,
Tuesday, November 12, 2024: Professor Petros C. Mavroidis, Edwin B. Parker Professor of Foreign & Comparative Law, Columbia Law School
Tuesday, November 26, 2024: Professor Stefan Szymanski, Professor of Sport Management, University of Michigan School of Kinesiology
*Please e-mail mailto:weilersoffice@nyu.edu if you would like to attend any of these sessions