Andy has been writing about the governance of sport for over 15 years. Prior to working on the Sports Integrity Initiative, he was the editor of World Sports Law Report for eight years. He has also worked for the Press Association and has written for numerous trade magazines. He has also created, chaired and spoken at numerous conferences on the business of sport, and produced the Sports Law Show for iSportConnect TV.
All posts by Andy Brown
• Portuguese club Rio Ave has expressed its ‘astonishment and indignation’ after television channel SIC reported that four of its players have been charged with match-fixing. ‘As is public knowledge, the Feirense v. Rio Ave game last season was the target of an abnormal number of bets’, the Primeira...
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has cleared Rio 2016 50km race walk champion Matej Tóth to return to competition after accepting his explanation regarding an irregularity in his athlete biological passport (ABP). The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of the IAAF decided not to appeal a 4 October...
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld an appeal by Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ), accepting that Karl Murray should be sanctioned with a two year ban for coaching athletes whilst banned and misleading investigators. The decision means that Murray must restart a two year ban...
• Germany’s antitrust authority is considering launching a procedure examining whether Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter constitutes a restriction on competition. The controversial rule prevents athletes participating in the Olympics from allowing their image or performances to be used for advertising from nine days before the Opening Ceremony...
Vitaly Mutko today stepped down as Chairman of the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup, after stepping aside as President of the Football Union of Russia (FUR) for six months to concentrate on an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a life ban from the Olympics. Mutko...
• Professor Jiri Dvorak is the latest FIFA official to confirm that his contract was terminated whilst he was investigating the systemic doping of Russian footballers. Dvorak, FIFA’s former Chief Medical Officer, told The Guardian that he was given no warning when his contract was terminated in November last...
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that US authorities are manipulating Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, former Director of the Moscow Laboratory, into saying what they want. “He is under control of American special services”, said Putin at his annual news conference, reported Russian State news agency TASS. “What are they...
The International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) is to appeal a decision not to re-impose provisional suspensions on Alexandr Zubkov and Aleksandr Tretiakov, after its Doping Hearing Panel ruled that to do so would breach the World Anti-Doping Code and the principles of international law. Unless the Court of...
Most people haven’t heard of Norilsk. The Russian conurbation of around 200,000 people is the world’s northernmost city, located inside the Arctic Circle in the Krasnoyarsk Krai region of Russia. It is also the coldest. The temperature today was -23ºc during the polar night that envelopes the city from...
Justin Gatlin has denied using performance-enhancing drugs after his coach and an agent offered to provide false prescriptions for prohibited substances to an actor training for a film in a Telegraph exposé. The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)...
• The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has provisionally suspended six weightlifters, after they returned adverse analytical findings (AAFs) for various prohibited substances. Thailand’s Suppatra Kaewkhong reported an AAF for testosterone; Venezuela’s Laura Yenireet Peinado Mejias reported an AAF for hydrochlorothiazide; Romania’s Monica Suneta Csengeri reported an AAF for ephedrine;...
The International Cricket Council (ICC) insists that there is ‘no evidence’ that the third Ashes test has been fixed, after being provided with the details of a four month investigation by The Sun, in which bookmakers offered to fix aspects of the Ashes series. ‘From my initial assessment of...
• The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has sanctioned three Russians for competing whilst banned, its latest list (download PDF) of athletes sanctioned for a doping offence reveals. Tamara Schemerova has had her ban extended by one year, whilst Yevgeniy Khokhlov and Larisa Kleymenova have been banned for an...
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to sanction Russian athletes with a ban from all future editions of the Olympic Games would appear to violate legal principles, as well as Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) jurisprudence. On 12 December, the IOC disqualified the Russian women’s ice-hockey team from...
• Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is revoking the naturalised citizenship of a 43-year old due to his involvement in a match-fixing ring. ‘During his time as a Singapore citizen, this individual became an active and trusted member of an international match-fixing syndicate which was created in and...
