Introduction

The Canadian sport law sector continues to provide diverse opportunities for legal practitioners of varying expertise and specialties, be it by assisting local, amateur or professional sports teams and regional or national sports associations; by drafting rules and contracts, overseeing day-to-day legal matters and representing athletes and coaching staff at all levels; by negotiating contracts related to anything from employment and sponsorship to image rights and broadcasting rights; by assisting sporting venue and event organisation with risk management and all the legal intricacies related to event planning; or by advocating or adjudicating sport dispute resolution of all kinds, be it before the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC), civil or criminal courts and any professional league or club arbitration and grievance processes.

Amateur Sport – General Trends

Under the Canadian Constitution, the responsibility for amateur sport is shared between the federal government and each province and territory’s government.

With regards to amateur sport, at the core of sport law in Canada are the various sports’ national sporting organisations, which run their sport in accordance with the rules of the relevant international federation. Inevitably, regulations need to be drafted, including team selection and athlete funding criteria, competition rules, eligibility criteria, anti-doping rules, safeguarding policies, disciplinary rules, anti-corruption and prevention of match manipulation codes of conduct, etc. Legal experts must undertake such regulatory drafting, as well as argue any disputes that can arise out of the same.

The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees govern all sports in their respective olympic programmes and similarly will require a wide range of regulations to be drafted, implemented and overseen. This will also include sponsorship and marketing, privacy and IP rights, eligibility and classification among others.

Sport organisations in Canada are generally defined as any organisation that is:

• the governing body for a specific sport or discipline at the national level or for its association of members in any provincial, territorial or regional jurisdiction, as recognised from time to time by Sport Canada or the SDRCC;
• a multisport service organisation at the national level or in any provincial, territorial or regional jurisdiction in Canada, as recognised from time to time by Sport Canada or the SDRCC; or
• a Canadian Sport Institute or Centre receiving funding from Sport Canada.

Canadian Arbitration and Dispute Resolution in Amateur Sport

Disputes necessarily arise during the administration of national level sport in Canada. While some sporting disputes inevitably still get resolved through civil courts, and sometimes criminal proceedings, the SDRCC established pursuant to Subsection 9(1) of the Federal Physical Activity and Sport Act (Bill C-12 and assented to on 19 March 2003), is responsible for providing to the Canadian sport community a national alternative dispute resolution service for sport disputes. To this end, the SDRCC establishes and maintains a list of arbitrators who possess recognised competence regarding sport and alternative dispute resolution procedures and have the requisite experience in conducting such matters.

The SDRCC operates four different Tribunals.

• Ordinary, which mostly deals with selection and carding cases – meaning athletes who dispute their non-selection to a specific team and athletes who dispute their non-funding from the Athlete Assistance Program of the Government of Canada.
• Doping, which deals with disputes between the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) and athletes or other persons bound by the Canadian Anti-Doping Program (CADP).
• Safeguarding, which for the most part deals with alleged violations of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS).
• Appeals, restricted to appeals brought under the CADP and UCCMS.

The most common disputes referred to the SDRCC involve selection cases, carding cases, discipline, anti-doping and more recently safe sport cases. Each of these cases has its unique features, and each dispute will have to be decided on a case-by-case assessment, taking account of all pertinent factual, regulatory and legal circumstances. A significant body of case law has evolved over the years in all these types of cases. All SDRCC decisions are posted on its website.

Developing Trends

In the 2024 Canada Trends & Developments chapter in this guide, three developing trends were underlined, which stood out as being most impactful. These three trends certainly continue to impact all sport law practitioners in Canada: the growth of women’s professional team sports; safeguarding; and competition manipulation and sport gambling.

This year, three other trends are noted that are believed to be of significant impact to sport law in Canada:

• professional sport;
• changes to the Canadian Safe Sport mechanism; and
• increased attention to sport integrity-culture-governance.

Professional Sport – With Special Attention to the Canadian Premiere League

Canada runs its own American Football League – called the Canadian Football League (CFL), has seven teams competing in the National Hockey League (NHL); one team competing respectively in the National Basketball Association (NBA), in Major League Baseball (MLB), and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA); three men’s teams competing in Major League Soccer (MLS); three teams in the Women’s MLS; three teams competing in the quickly expanding Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL); and eight teams competing the Men’s Canadian Premier Soccer League (CPL). In April 2025, play will also start for the newly established Women’s soccer Northern Super League (NSL).

There are of course countless legal considerations linked to professional sport related to the administration and operations of each of these professional leagues, their athletes’ careers, their coaching staff, their funding, their owners, the rules of the governing league and of course their collective bargaining agreements to name the most obvious. As stated above, there is a lot of work being done by various lawyers throughout Canada with regards to contract negotiations, sponsorship and broadcasting rights, IP, image rights and privacy issues, marketing, risk management, regulation, discipline, training compensation and revenue redistribution, etc, in relation to each of these professional sports.

Without totally reiterating what was said last year, there is little doubt that the growth of women’s professional team sports in North America, and notably of the Women’s Professional Hockey and Soccer Leagues in Canada continue to have tremendous impact in Canadian sport law. The sustained growth of women’s professional team sports in Canada creates new revenue streams and has escalated the need for regulation, marketing, sponsorship rights, broadcasting rights, image rights, agency rules, and the like. Whilst not currently being dealt with predominantly by Canadian lawyers, the persisting emergence of this market continues to create opportunities for sport law lawyers in Canada.

Based on recent experience, the sustained growth of Men’s Professional Soccer in Canada, and the many repercussions linked to this growth, can be highlighted as a current trend and development.

The Canadian Premier League (CPL) continues to grow and attract quality football (soccer) players from all corners of the world. This inevitably brings a variety of opportunities and legal challenges for Canadian lawyers, notably from an employment-law perspective. The updates brought to the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) further to and alongside the worldwide impact and ramification of the European Court of Justice’s Diarra judgement (Lassana Diarra and FIFPRO v FIFA and URBSFA Case C-650/22) which will impact player transfers worldwide, are surely to have some impact on foreign nationals playing in Canada, even if in the case of the former the impact will be indirect. Current employment laws vary by province and territory, have not been drafted with the interest of professional footballers in mind, and are not more favourable per se to players than applicable Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) regulations. In addition, and more importantly, the CPL has not yet concluded a first collective bargaining agreement with the PFA: Professional Footballers Association Canada | AFP Association des footballeuses et footballeurs professionnels Canada. Due to these factors, it will be interesting to see how various contractual issues involving foreign nationals who wish to be transferred to other international clubs whilst playing for Canadian Provincial clubs will unravel and be resolved, be it by way of the CPL Commissioner, the Canada Soccer Association dispute resolution mechanism, civil courts or (most likely) that of FIFA. Will the obligation to pay compensation for breach of contract as well as the imposition of sporting sanctions remain in force in accordance with the RSTP in such cases? Will the anticipated PFA Collective Bargaining Agreement resolve some or all potential legal issues related to terminating contracts for just cause?

FIFA’s proposed interim changes to the RSTP transfer rules will certainly have an impact on CPL players. The conclusion of a first Collective Bargaining Agreement will also be instrumental in reducing legal challenges within this presently murky and grey area. This is a remarkably interesting development worth following in Canada.

Upcoming Changes to Canada’s SafeSport Mechanism

The UCCMS

The Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS) is the core document that sets harmonised rules to be adopted by sport organisations that receive funding from the government of Canada to advance a respectful sport culture that delivers quality, inclusive, accessible, welcoming and safe sport experiences.

The UCCMS addresses:

• common principles and a commitment to advance a respectful sport culture;
• standard definitions of various forms of maltreatment, including grooming, neglect, and physical, sexual and psychological abuse;
• a list of other prohibited behaviour such as retaliation, failure to report maltreatment, intentionally filing false allegations, misuse of power, etc; and
• a framework for determining appropriate sanctions against such prohibited behaviour.

All organisations that receive Sport Canada funding are subject to the UCCMS.

The Future of Sport in Canada Commission

Shocking revelations by victims, survivors and advocates over the last few years has brought to light systemic maltreatment that occurs at all levels and contexts of sport in Canada. These revelations have compelled an important examination of sporting life and culture in the country. To this end, on 28 November 2024, the government of Canada announced the creation of the Future of Sport in Canada Commission.

According to its own government webpage, the Commission’s aim is to review the Canadian sport system and make recommendations on concrete and effective actions with respect to:

• improving safe sport in Canada, including trauma-informed approaches to support sport participants in the disclosure of and healing from maltreatment; and
• improving the sport system in Canada, including but not limited to policy, funding structures, governance, reporting, accountability, conflicts of interest, systems alignment, culture and legal considerations.

The federal government’s three-person commission was appointed and has begun its work to investigate systemic abuse and human rights violations in Canadian sport.

The goal is for a preliminary and final report to be issued with recommendations on governance, funding and policy aimed at changing the culture in sport.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) to replace the OSIC

On 2 May 2024, the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Physical Activity, provided an update on the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner and the Abuse-Free Sport Program.

The Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) had previously been responsible for administering the UCCMS by among others (of legal importance):

• overseeing a complaint intake process;
• conducting preliminary assessments and commissioning independent investigations, when warranted;
• maintaining a database of imposed sanctions; and
• monitoring compliance by sporting organisations, and issuing reports into its findings, as required.

As of 1 April 2025, the administration of the UCCMS will move from the SDRCC to the CCES, which will effectively take on this role.

Draft Canadian Safe Sport Program (CSSP) Rules were circulated to the Canadian sport community for comment in the fall of 2024. Following several rounds of extensive consultation with experts and the sport community, the CCES has now published the final version of the CSSP, which recognises the CCES as the organisational body mandated to independently administer and enforce the UCCMS for national level sport participants within federally funded national and multi-sport organisations. The CSSP also establishes the procedural rules by which the CCES will carry out this mandate.

All federally funded, national-level sport organisations are required to adopt the CSSP as a valid policy document that must be incorporated into the organisation’s rules to ensure that this iteration of the Safe Sport Program meets the expectations and needs of all stakeholders.

Integrity, Culture and Governance

Integrity, culture and governance are catch words that are at the forefront of sport globally. National and international sporting organisations, federations, associations and bodies are, rightly, under increased scrutiny to ensure that in theory and in practice the way they govern, operate, handle their books and treat their staff, athletes and all stakeholders meets ethical, moral and integrity standards far greater than those of the past.

Soccer Canada has been under the proverbial gun for the last few years in this regard. From safe sport issues, to board, management and “toxic workplace” problems, culture crises and coaching scandals that reverberated at a global level (aka “drone gate”), Soccer Canada has experienced difficult times.

Various investigations and reports were commissioned and a general overhaul of how things used to be done has been successfully completed by way of drastic leadership, administrative and coaching shake-ups. Soccer Canada has recently stated that is has “introduced reforms and should no longer be defined by the actions of individuals that are no longer involved with it”.

If only it was that simple to step out of the shadows of public scrutiny! Still, Soccer Canada is neither alone nor the first organisation to deal with such scandals. Similar scandals have affected other sports in Canada (ice hockey to name the most-high profile among others). Much work has since been done by all Canadian organisations which have been subject to scrutiny to right the wrongs of the past, including new leadership and governance and an overhaul of rules, regulations and documented processes as well as oversight of their effective implementation.

As reported in the Globe and Mail (on 23 November 2024) Soccer Canada, like other beleaguered Canadian sport organisations which faced similar scandals in the past, has promised an iteration of a “commitment to excellence integrity and transparency and accountability in every area of operations and governance to continue to renew the public trust”. It is off to a good start, and for the love of the sport and the millions of Canadian athletes who play it at all levels, one can only trust that it will continue this positive trajectory.

Canada Soccer’s commitment to turn things around is a good example of how the growing, if not vital, importance attributed to integrity, accountability and good governance is better serving sport in Canada. Sport lawyers all over Canada therefore need to be aware of this developing trend. There is much work to be done to assist sports associations, big or small, and professional or amateur with this developing (and arguably long overdue) integrity and good governance movement. It has started with a realisation of the importance of changing culture and mind-set, but it needs to be grounded in sound rules and regulations and legal processes which can be understood, implemented and respected by all.

This is an area to follow closely, not only in Canada, but globally.

Other Trends and Developments to Follow

NCAA Eligibility rule changes to men’s and women’s ice hockey (and skiing)

The NCAA Division I Council adopted a proposal to change rules for pre-enrolment activities in men’s ice hockey and skiing. This will enable prospects who participate in Major Junior ice hockey or on professional teams to retain NCAA eligibility so long as they are not paid more than actual and necessary expenses as part of that participation. This rule change will be effective from 1 August 2025.

The new NCAA Eligibility Rules are already significantly impacting Canadian student athletes who wish to attend US colleges. This means that major junior hockey players in Canada are now eligible to strike scholarship deals to play for US college hockey. One can be sure that as soon as the NCAA eligibility rules change was reported, US college programmes began targeting and recruiting elite male and female 20-year-olds from Canadian major junior leagues who will graduate following the 2024-25 season.

All student athletes need to understand that there are certain academic requirements and eligibility rules that they must meet to qualify for enrolment at an NCAA institution. Players and athletes should therefore take the necessary steps to understand these requirements to evaluate potential opportunities including seeking out the services of a lawyer if necessary to assist them understand their rights and responsibilities in this regard.

North America: a soccer/football hotspot

North America, including Canada, is becoming a football (“soccer” to Canadians) hotspot.

The MLS, CPL and NSL have gained exponential momentum and greater fan bases, and the FIFA Legal and Compliance Division moved its corporate offices from Zurich to Miami in 2024. In 2026, the biggest football tournament in the world will take place in North America from 11 June to 19 July 2026.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States. These countries are all part of the Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football (widely known as CONCACAF) which is one of FIFA’s six continental governing bodies.

There are numerous reasons for football fans to be excited about the World Cup coming to North America. Notably, it will be the first FIFA World Cup to use a 48-team format, expanded from 32. This means more teams and more games... and more drama!

From broadcasting rights and sponsorship deals to risk management and security, there will be no shortage of legal issues arising out of Canada’s co-hosting duties at the highly anticipated 2026 World Cup. Sports lawyers are sure to have their hands full.

If that was not enough – 2025 Club World Cup in the United States is shaping up not only to be a warmup for the FIFA World Cup a year later, but also one of the most highly anticipated football events of the current four-year cycle. Changing it from a barely known and visible team tournament, FIFA has reshuffled the annual club event to a truly global competition including clubs from each of FIFA’s confederations. This includes some of the world’s most renowned and famous clubs (including Man City, PSG, Bayern Munich, etc) all to make the Club World Cup more visible and more competitive. The goal appears to be to make the Club World Cup trophy as coveted as the World Cup.

Stay tuned – there will surely be more to say on this in the next few years!