The issues that are associated to the Juridical Entity of sports federations (A comparative study between the French and Qatari laws)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Faculty of law-Qatar University

Abstract

This research aims to find the legal basis for the legal personality enjoyed by the National Sports Federations, in both Qatar and France, by examining the two elements through which this personality is determined. A comparative descriptive analytical approach was employed in this research, and a set of results was reached. Sports competition plays an important role in the framework of the emergence of sports federations, and the French sports federations have a clear legal status as they are considered associations; though sports federations do not become effective until the terms of agreement and delegation have been exhausted. Whereas the Qatari legislator did not specify the legal nature of the legal personality of sports federations. Furthermore, the legal position in France is clear regarding the practice of sports federations of trade, while there is no legal text governing this in Qatar. In addition to the insufficiency of the current legal texts related to the establishment of sports federations, it was also concluded that there is a legislative void in Qatar regarding the sports calendar, sports insurance, prior medical oversight, and federal disciplinary liability, despite its importance in organizing sports competition, and subsequently in determining what sports federations are from a legal point of view. Therefore, a set of proposals was established as to the need to define the legal personality of the sports federations in the State of Qatar,  the existence of an explicit legal text that allows the sports federations in the State of Qatar to practice trade without that being a main purpose of their activity, the adoption of explicit texts in the area of prior medical control over the health of athletes, the sports calendar and sports insurance, as well as the legislative development of the federal disciplinary liability system.

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