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Analysis of the ruling and its implications for judicial review of CAS sports arbitration awards
Key Aspects
- On July 10, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its final ruling in the case of Semenya v. Switzerland.
- The ruling concludes that Switzerland violated Article 6 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) because the Swiss Federal Tribunal (Schweizerisches Bundesgericht) failed to exercise, with the rigor required by the circumstances of the case, the corresponding judicial review when deciding on the action for annulment brought by the applicant against the arbitral award issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
- This ruling may mark a turning point at the intersection of human rights and sports arbitration, especially with regard to the right of access to judicial remedy and a fair trial; and it certainly represents a watershed moment for sports arbitrations based in Switzerland.
- Below, we analyze this ruling, its background, and its implications.