Doping is not yet considered a criminal offence under Ecuadorian Criminal Law (Código Orgánico Integral Penal) and cannot be established in any other legal document outside sport.

The only substances on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited substances list that are considered criminally illegal in Ecuador are social drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, etc.

The national anti-doping agency in Ecuador (Unidad Nacional Antidopaje del Ecuadoris – UNADE) has jurisdiction to impose sanctions in cases of doping in sports. UNADE is recognised by WADA, and is completely autonomous to act in all cases related to WADA in Ecuador. Every Ecuadorian sports federation is obliged to include in its by-laws recognition of WADA for international purposes and UNADE for national purposes. The new Ecuadorian Sports Law considers the fight against doping as being of public interest to the government. It also recognises the jurisdiction of WADA as an international institution that regulates doping, as well as the sanctions imposed by WADA on athletes, national federations and sports organisations.

The new Ecuadorian Sports Law now includes definitions of lack of sporting integrity and match-fixing, both of which can lead to the exclusion of athletes from the Ecuadorian sports system. Besides that, the professional football league and the Ecuadorian Football Federation have drafted rules regarding match-fixing in football because even the Ecuadorian Sports Law does not mention anything about match-fixing in sports. 

Every Ecuadorian sports federation includes a sanction for “misconduct and offence to sports integrity” and in those cases, the athlete, club, or anyone related to sports could receive a disciplinary sanction according to the disciplinary code of ethics of the particular federation. The Ecuadorian Olympic Committee works alongside the International Olympic Committee to help national sports federations implement a legal framework to fight match-fixing in sports, with circulars and a complaints channel for athletes and sports stakeholders.

In the case of professional football, there was an important case related to match-fixing and betting on sports in 2023. In this case, Libertad FC received a sanction from the disciplinary committee of the Ecuador Professional Football League (LigaPro), confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and started the 2024 tournament with minus four points and a fine of USD30,000.

In 2025, a player was sanctioned against participating in professional sport for two years by the disciplinary committee of LigaPro, but an appeal demonstrated that the sanction was unfair and it was withdrawn. This was a famous case, as it concerned a collective sanction that affected three clubs and 20 players.

In Ecuador, a new provision prohibits the promotion of betting on sports, although such betting is not illegal and there is no particular legislation that prohibits it. In line with the particular case of “misconduct and offence to sports integrity”, however, there have been many disciplinary sanctions for betting on sports where it is treated as an offence to sports integrity.

Once again, the Ecuadorian Professional Football League has been the first institution in Ecuadorian sports to take steps in this direction by prohibiting betting on sports through the landmark case of Libertad FC in 2023.

In that sense, LigaPro created a new department (the “Integrity Department”) that deals with all situations related to betting on sports. By December 2023, LigaPro had accepted the petition to prohibit all betting on sports by players and board members.

In the most recent case of betting on sports, Libertad FC received a sanction from the disciplinary committee of LigaPro, confirmed by CAS. This meant Libertad FC started the 2024 tournament with minus four points and an economic fine of USD30,000. In addition, Libertad FC player Milton Bolaños was suspended from playing football for two years, also confirmed by CAS.

The new Ecuadorian Sports Law includes a definition of illegal betting on sport and the regulation of all sports betting companies. 

The new Ecuadorian Sports Law includes a chapter focusing only on the disciplinary aspects of the Ecuadorian sports system, concerning the organisation of competitions, the elections process, sports administration, etc.

In Ecuador, disciplinary proceedings are followed in every national sports federation and each has the power to impose sanctions on its affiliated members. Each national sports federation should create a disciplinary committee or an ethics committee, such as in the LigaPro or the Ecuadorian Football Federation, but many sports in Ecuador do not fall within such divisions.

A disciplinary proceeding for doping, lack of integrity, or betting offences would include the following stages:

First, the disciplinary committee of the sport’s national federation would receive notification of any misconduct by its affiliated members and start a disciplinary proceeding. After this, the disciplinary committee will notify the affiliated members about the disciplinary proceeding so that each person involved can defend themselves and send all the necessary documents to protect their interests.

When the affiliated members send their legal defence, the disciplinary committee will summon a hearing where the parties can discuss the allegations and defence, and reach a decision. 

The decision can be appealed by any of the parties.

In Ecuador, key sports-related rights are the naming right of the stadiums, ticketing and the presentation night of the team squad. This happens every year and during at least the last five years, it has attracted a lot of attention from sponsors and supporters.

This has grown to be internationally attractive by presenting international singers and former football stars such as Carlos Tévez, Ronaldinho, Sergio Agüero and Diego Forlan, among many others.

Ticket sales are also important in Ecuador because it is a customary part of local culture to go to the stadium at the weekend, although this has in the past been affected by problems such as violence in the stadiums, illegal ticket sales and criminality.

Previously, people have posed as supporters in order to commit all kinds of violence in the stadiums. The sale of illegal tickets was also rife, with criminal gangs buying up all the tickets in advance and then reselling them to spectators at inflated prices outside the stadium in order to make a profit. This year, LigaPro is using a new system to identify supporters and has set up online ticket sales to prevent illegal reselling of tickets, which is prohibited by Ecuadorian Sports Law and Criminal Law.

Sponsors are very important for sports in Ecuador, especially in football. The Olympics are also important to sponsors as they try to anticipate and negotiate with possible Olympic medallists. The most important aspect for a sponsor in Ecuador is to be affiliated to a national brand, which presents many options in football, while in other sports, sponsors try to connect the principal players in various sports with their companies.

In Ecuador, investment in sport is encouraged through a tax benefit, which works as follows: if a company or investor spends a certain amount on a qualified sports project, at the end of that tax year, they will be entitled to deduct an additional 150% of the amount spent from their pre-tax income (eg, USD100,000 spent on a qualified sports project will allow the investor a USD250,000 deduction on their income for tax purposes).

The following key terms should be included in a standard contract between sponsors and sports right-holders:

• the parties involved;
• the duration of the contract;

• the objective of the contract;

• the goals of the contract;

• any agreed limitations;
• any agreed prohibitions;
• the obligations of the sport right-holder and the sponsors;
• compliance with sports marketing regulations;
• how ambush marketing will be handled;
• all economic obligations; and
• the possibility of alternative dispute resolution.

Sports other than professional football do not generate sufficient income in Ecuador to make broadcasting possible. Negotiations to broadcast professional football league games take place between the broadcaster and LigaPro, the league of all professional clubs in Ecuador (Series A and B).

The broadcaster signs a contract of USD12–16 million to be divided among all the professional clubs in Ecuador (in Series A and B). Ecuador will also allegedly have a Series C Division for 2028.

LigaPro has included all the legal protection required by the marketing department to protect the broadcasters’ rights and the income generated by the sale of TV rights.

Sports events are organised in Ecuador by the stakeholders determined by the Ecuadorian Sports Law, such as national leagues or associations, regional leagues or associations, regional sports federations and national sports federation.

Where another party wishes to organise a sports event, they will need the authorisation of the city where the event will take place and of the national sports federation. Control of sports events is taken by the national sports federation, usually by means of a civil contract to protect both parties’ interests. 

According to the new Ecuadorian Sports Law, when a sports event is hosted at a venue built by the Ecuadorian government, all the profits generated by the event must be reinvested in upgrading and improving the venue.

Participation by athletes and fans will depend on the scale of the event (ie, if it is a national event attracting a lot of interest, and if the event counts for national or international ranking).

In Ecuador, liability for sports events is usually determined by the contract signed between the organisers, the owner of the event and the host city. In such a case, liability will be limited by the Ecuadorian Civil Code and the contract signed by the parties, but there have been many cases of tournaments in the past where there was no liability for the organisers in case of injury while competing, as liability was not correctly drafted in the Ecuadorian Sports Law. In the new Ecuadorian Sports Law, however, the sports organisers are responsible for medical care and the prevention of violence, and have an additional obligation to use at least 20% of the funds obtained from the sale of alcoholic beverages for the development of new athletes.

The liability of the athletes to the spectators is determined by the disciplinary code of each national sports federation and sanctions are established through a disciplinary process but not by an individual code of sports liabilities. In the same way, violence and disorder are controlled by the national sports federation with the support of the host city, according to Articles 156 and 157 of the new Ecuadorian Sports Law, and the necessary protection must be provided by the national police department. Where a national sports federation does not have a disciplinary code, then the host city will be in charge of protecting the spectators from violence and disorder.

The only legal form allowed for sporting bodies in Ecuador is that of a civil non-profit association where any funds generated are reinvested in the club. Sporting bodies in Ecuador cannot sell shares or be on the stock market, meaning the structure of a club is very limited. Clubs are largely dependent on sponsorship and broadcasting rights because the Ecuadorian legal system does not allow investors to put money into local sports clubs, although this has started to change in the last few years with clubs being taken over through some legal technicality.

Football clubs in the LigaPro and Ecuadorian Football Federation are required to be structured as professional clubs, but Ecuadorian Sports Law also allows for other kinds of structures such as:

• amateur sport clubs;
• high-performance sport clubs;
• university sports clubs;
• adapted or paralympic sports clubs; and
• special regime military and police sports clubs.

All such clubs in Ecuador start as an amateur sports club, although high-performance sports clubs are for Olympic or semi-professional athletes.

There are no specific sport corporate governance codes, but according to Ecuadorian Sports Law, sports clubs need to comply with an election process and the members of the board should comply with a programme provided by the Ecuadorian sports minister, although in reality, this has never happened.

The Ecuadorian sports minister is in charge of applying the rules of registration of the club’s board and if the process is incorrect, the club will not be able to register with the board, which could result in the club losing its affiliation to the national sports federation.

In the last two years, this has become a particular problem for clubs, sports federations and even the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee, due to a lack of regulations and ambiguous law.

Where a national sports federation or sports club does not receive public funds, the board must respond. 

The requirements for any person who wishes to become part of the board of a certain club or national sports federation are very basic – they must be an Ecuadorian, be 18 years old or over, and be a member of the sports institution. They are not required to be a professional player or even to have practised the sport in the past.

In the case of insolvency of a sports organisation, sanctions will depend on the by-laws of each national sports federation. However, once again, professional football is the only Ecuadorian sport with such disposition, where sanctions include deduction of points or loss of affiliation in the case of insolvency or not complying with a judicial decision.

Sports funding is decided by the Ecuadorian sports minister and the minister of finance, according to the new Ecuadorian Sports Law. In order to receive resources from the central government, a national sports federation needs to go through a process of determining the good use of national resources in terms of sports benefits, the social impact of the sport and its future development. Every national sports federation that develops amateur sports or professional sports will have to fulfil these requirements.

Additionally, national sports federations can obtain their own resources by commercially exploiting the business of sports through organising sports events, ticket sales, broadcasting, summer camps, etc.

Trade marks are registered in Ecuador through SENADI (Servicio Nacional de Derechos Intelectuales), which is the institution in charge of all intellectual property.

The first step in registering a trade mark is to search the existing database to find out if a similar or identical brand/mark is already registered.

If this is not the case and the mark can be registered, the required form needs to be filled in, selecting the specific product or service to be protected by the mark (name and logo).

It takes approximately six to eight months for a final decision either conceding or rejecting the mark to be filed. If the mark is conceded, the title will be given within the next six months.

In Ecuador, it is forbidden to register any mark that is similar or identical to a mark that is already registered, or any mark that is considered immoral.

The advantage of the registration of a mark is the income that can be derived through commercial negotiations between sports clubs and companies interested in exploiting economic agreements. For example, Barcelona Sporting Club has its own ice cream with a leading ice cream company in Ecuador, thanks to a commercial agreement between the two institutions.

In the same way as trade marks, copyright and database rights are protected by the Ecuadorian Law of Social Economy of Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation through SENADI.

The protection is conceded once filing and registration at SENADI have been completed. 

The most common way to demand and protect a copyright is to send cease and desist letters to the offenders.

To date, there are no significant cases in Ecuador relating to copyright and database rights linked to football.

In Ecuador, the legal recognition of image rights is entrusted to the Ecuadorian Law of Social Economy of Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation. It is quite common to see Ecuadorian clubs including image rights clauses for national or international athletes, mainly in professional football. Besides including image rights clauses, however, clubs do not usually register or protect the image right of each athlete at SENADI, meaning that unprotected image rights could be commercially exploited by a third party.

It is therefore important for every professional club to protect the image right of each player by having this registered with SENADI, giving the club the necessary competence to use it.

The most common cases involving personality protection have to do with criminal offences where the image rights of an athlete or professional football player have been used to blackmail football fans by requesting money transfers, or fake news made by using AI.

Sports bodies and athletes need to draft IP licensing contracts between clubs or athletes, with any potential trade mark that may be of interest included in such an agreement. In order to exploit any intellectual property, application has to be made at the Ecuadorian Law of Social Economy of Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation and the IP needs to be protected through registration at SENADI, as mentioned in 5.3 Recognising Personality/Image Rights. 

IP rights have to be registered at SENADI. In order to assign IP rights to third parties, a contract including specific clauses for the use of the IP rights needs to be registered at SENADI and a licensing agreement from SENADI authorising the use of the IP rights needs to be obtained.

Sports data in Ecuador is still not completely developed for the use of sports bodies or stakeholders and it appears that, so far, sports data has only been used by certain companies that use email or financial information to promote their products or services.

The sports data of each athlete is basically only used in professional football to evaluate the athlete’s performance.

In 2026, spectator data will be used by the Ecuadorian Professional Football League when it introduces the “FAN ID”, which can potentially be used for commercial purposes and will therefore have an impact on spectators.

The data protection law in Ecuador is very recent, and it has not so far been used in a sports context relating to athletes, clubs, sporting bodies, spectators or fans.

The national court system in Ecuador has relegated disputes concerning sports bodies because of the delayed processes, the lack of specific sports law knowledge, corruption and many other concerns about the national judicial system.

Instead, each national sports federation has the competence to create an independent dispute resolution chamber which can decide on topics related to sports law, such as labour contracts, contractual relationships with clubs, and training compensation, among many others. Disputes are settled in the dispute resolution chamber and are not referred to the national courts.

Lack of trust in the regular judicial system, coupled with the possibility of gaining quick results in certain legal areas, have made arbitration an attractive option in Ecuador. The two best-known arbitration centres are in Guayaquil and Quito, but there is at least one arbitration centre in each of the most important cities of Ecuador.

According to Ecuadorian Sports Law, arbitration is recognised in sports disputes, but there is no dedicated arbitration chamber for this purpose. The only sport that has therefore implemented arbitration to date is football, and only because FIFA requested this.

The power of sports governing bodies to enforce sporting or financial sanctions in Ecuador is established in their statutes and detailed in every disciplinary code of the sporting body, approved by their affiliated members and by the Ecuadorian Sports Law. 

The autonomy given to each sport’s governing body is recognised by the international sports federation and accepted by the Ecuadorian sports minister. However, in recent years the Ecuadorian sports minister has intervened in the affairs of different national sports federations when they have not complied with certain regulations under the Ecuadorian Sports Law.

If a party wishes to appeal a decision they can do so before the appeal tribunal of the same sports federation, or present an appeal to the international sports federation or CAS, both of which are accepted under the Ecuadorian Sports Law.

Relationships between sports organisations and players are usually handled in a very informal way, as many club owners do not like to negotiate with agencies, or prefer to work with one particular agent. This manner of handling relationships with players, where most club owners prefer to skip any communication with agencies to save money on the contract, has not been good for communication or building relationships. 

As mentioned previously, in Ecuador the only professional sport is football, so football players are the only athletes that must be employed by a club. Most of the contracts for players include labour law clauses and just a few sports law clauses because it is common to use a single template of a contract for multiple purposes.

Salary caps are not enforced in Ecuador; only the minimum income for a professional player is stipulated.

It is common for mistakes to be made in drawing up these employment contracts, particularly when it comes to buy-out clauses, which can often make it very complicated to negotiate an international transfer.

As football is the only professional sport in Ecuador, rules regarding employers and employees are only applicable to football. In other sports, there is no obligation to sign a labour contract with the athlete so there is no employer/employee relationship.

Disputes in professional football contracts most commonly arise because football clubs have not registered a labour contract according to the rules governing employer and employee, as a result of which, the competence to decide in the case of a labour dispute is unclear.

Another problem that sometimes arises with employer/employee rules is that the documents justifying payment of the players’ salaries have not been signed.

If these documents, called payment roles, are not signed by the players, they cannot receive their salary, which can lead to professional football clubs being sanctioned with points deductions.

There is no such thing in Ecuador as a special visa for foreign athletes. The only visa a foreign athlete needs is a labour permit given by the foreign minister and this only applies to professional footballers because, as mentioned previously, there is no obligation to sign an employment contract with athletes from other sports.

For football, the number of foreign athletes is limited by the competition rules of LigaPro to eight players. In tournaments organised by the Ecuadorian Football Federation, the number of foreign players is also capped according to the competition rules, and will depend on the kind of tournament.

Finally, there is no relevant visa restriction for foreign athletes, but there are multiple benefits in terms of migration for athletes that are born in the Andean Community (Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Chile).

Professional women’s sport in Ecuador is limited to football. Other sports are not considered professional, so there is no obligation to sign a labour contract. In addition, even in football, there is no obligation to sign labour contracts with most of the players and besides, the women’s professional football tournament only lasts three months, so for the rest of the year, the club will not have any obligation to pay the players.

At the beginning of 2026, the Law of Equality in salaries was signed in Ecuador. As this is supposed to be implemented for football as well as other forms of employment, it is hoped that new legal requirements to protect women football players can soon be drafted.

One of the most well-known cases in women’s sport happened in 2025 when several female football players at a renowned club in Ecuador received authorisation to finish their contracts with their former club by just cause according to 12bis and 14bis of FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP). The dispute resolution chamber of the Ecuadorian Football Federation accepted the just cause even though there was no intimation that unpaid salaries were going to be settled, and the former club was not required to prove that it had settled all the supposed unpaid amounts.

The creation of the Ecuadorian Professional Superleague for female football is a great step in providing a professional structure for female football and the possibility to increase the incomes of female football players.

There are no specific organisations or initiatives for women in any other sport in Ecuador.

In Ecuador there is no recognition for a specialised Esports Club, as this cannot be created by the Ecuadorian Sports Law and be registered by the sports minister. However, this is an industry that is growing a lot year on year, with many tournaments and skilful gamers. From a legal perspective, there are no formal obligations for clubs, gamers, owners or investors, so this is still a very informal industry at present. There is also no obligation for labour contracts for gamers, intellectual property rights or broadcasting rights, but in the coming years these legal aspects will no doubt be considered and included in the industry.

So far in Ecuador there have not been any key trends regarding esports or notable deals, other than the organisation of esports tournaments.

In Ecuador there is no NFT regulation, but this could possibly fall under intellectual property regulations.

The only sporting body that uses the NFT market is the Ecuadorian Football Federation, but this has not had a significant impact on Ecuadorian society.

In Ecuador there is no AI regulation, but this could possibly fall under intellectual property regulations.

In Ecuador there is no metaverse regulation, but this could possibly fall under intellectual property regulations.