Our First WISLaw Annual Conference and General Assembly in Madrid. Thanks to our Members and Friends for coming to our conference from 25 different countries!

The event started with the 1st General Assembly where WISLaw Founder & Board Member Melanie Schärer presented the Annual Report & the Budget for 2017 and showed the geographical representation of our members. WISLaw Member Reyes Bellver presented the conclusions from the research on the participation of women in the sports law sector (see the evaluation here).

The main program of the conference featured three round tables focusing on football. The first round table was entitled “Legal Issues in Women’s Football” and was moderated by WISLaw Founder & Board Member Marissa Rubio Dominguez. Speakers included Montserrat Jimenez, Legal Director and Interim General Director of CONMEBOL, Paraguay; Namrata Chatterjee, AFC LegalCounsel – Sports Legal Services, Disciplinary & Governance, Malaysia.

The second round table was about the legal hurdles of professional football players and featured speakers from FIFProf, WADA and AIAF. Participants included Maja Kuster Hoffmann, FIFA Head of Players’ Status, Switzerland; Anna Peniche Adame, Legal Director LIGA MX / ASCENSO Mx and Member of the FIFA Players’ Status Committee (Mexico); Patricia Moyersoen, Lawyer and President of AIAF, France; Alexandra Gomez Bruinewoud, Legal Counsel FIFPro, The Netherlands. The round table was moderated by Melanie Schärer, Lawyer, Founding Partner MS Entertainment Law, Switzerland

The third round table dealt with commercial trends in football and participants included representatives from UEFA, TAG Heuer and major football clubs (Helen De Haan, Sports Sponsorships Senior Manager at TAG Heuer, Switzerland; Georgie Hodge, Head of Women’s Football at Base Soccer Agency Ltd, United Kingdom; Dr Emilio Garcia Silvero, Managing Director of Integrity at UEFA). The Panel was moderated by sports lawyer and WISLaw Friend Jake F. Cohen, Sports Lawyer, London, United Kingdom.

Finally, WISLaw Founder and Board Member Dr Despina Mavromati presented the past activities and the achievements of WISLaw in one year from its creation and talked about the perspectives and goals for the next year, based on the feedback received from our WISLaw members. You can see her presentation HERE

WISLaw Friends Sean Cottrell (CEO LawInSport) and James Kitching (MD Kitching Sports) discussed ways to involve men in WISLaw.

The conference ended with an informal drinks reception hosted by the RFEF and a networking drinks and tapas reception at Sargo Madrid. 

Thanks to all our members and friends for coming from different parts of the world and supporting our first conference! Our 2nd conference will be held at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne on September 20, 2018 (one day after the AIAF conference in Lausanne and prior to the CAS / FSA conference)! More information will follow in due course!

Let us know if you are interested in participating in the next conference as speaker / panellist or wish to help with the organization of the event in any way by sending an email to info.wislaw@gmail.com