Sport
© Aleksandr Markin – shutterstock.com
Panellists &
Moderators
Alasdair BELL
Alasdair BELL is the Director of Legal Affairs at UEFA. He worked in Brussels in private practice for most of the 1990s focusing on competition, trade law and single market legislation. He became a partner in Forrester Norall & Sutton in 1994, which subsequently merged with White & Case. He moved to London in 1998 and continued to advise clients on EU law generally and EU competition law in particular. He has been the principal outside Counsel to UEFA for 15 years on all matters of European Union Law before joining UEFA in 2010 as General Counsel and Director of the Legal Affairs Division.
Claudia BOKEL
Claudia Bokel is an Olympic athlete in fencing (épée). She was elected to serve on the IOC Athletes Commission in 2008 during the Summer Games in Beijing, when she became IOC member. She is currently the chairperson of the IOC Ath-letes Commission (2012-) and member of the IOC Executive Board (2012-).
Her accomplishments in sport include: silver medallist at the Olympic Games in 2004 (team); competed at the Olym-pic Games in 1996 and 2000 (individual and team); gold medallist at the World Championships in 2001 (individual); overall winner at the World Cup in 1998 (individual and team) and in 2001 (team); gold medallist at the Junior World Championships in 1992 and 1993 (individual); gold medallist at the European Championships in 2006 (individual). She is also a leader in the field of sport, participating in many capacities including: Chairwoman of the European Olym-pic Committees (EOC) Athletes’ Commission (2005-2009); member of the National OlymOlym-pic Committee of Germany (DOSB) Athletes’ Commission (Chairwoman 2006–2007); member of the EOC Executive Board; mentor at the Elite Sports School in Bonn, Germany; Board member of the National Anti-Doping Agency/NADA (2002–2006); Athletes’ Representative at the German Fencing Federation (2000–2006); member of the «Dual Career» Working Group of the German Sports Aid Foundation (2004–2006); member of WADA Athlete Committee.
Claudia Bokel has been a research assistant at the IOC-accredited doping laboratory in Cologne/Institute for Bioche-mistry of the German Sports University in Cologne (2002); Co-moderator for Eurosport (2002). She has a Master of Science (2008) degree in chemistry from Radboud University, Nijmegen (The Netherlands).
Benjamin COHEN
Benjamin Cohen is currently in charge of the Governance & Legal Affairs Department at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
He holds a Bachelor of Law and a Master of Law in European Law and International Contract Law. From an early stage of his academic studies, Benjamin specialised in Sports Law at the International Centre for Sport Studies (CIES, Switzerland).
His professional career in Sport began at the United Nations, where he assisted the UN Office of Sport for Develop-ment and Peace. He came back to Switzerland to complete a Master of Advanced Studies in Sport ManageDevelop-ment and Technology.
In 2008, he jointly conducted a study for the Council of Europe (“The Autonomy of Sport in Europe”) and was further appointed as an Expert by the Council of Europe for the 11th Conference of European Ministers of Sport. He then joined UEFA to conduct a study in International football governance and to assist the UEFA Department of Governance & Legal Affairs (Professional Football Services Unit).
In June 2009, Benjamin joined FIBA in Geneva, Switzerland.
In 2011, he was appointed as a member of the Legal Commission for the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF). Benjamin is also President of the Legal Commission of the International League Against Racism (LICRA) for Switzerland.
Benjamin regularly intervenes as a speaker for various sports-related university programs and is now conducting aca-demic research on International Sports Governance.
Juan Antonio CORBALÁN
Juan Antonio Corbalán holds a Degree in Medicine with specialisation in Occupational Medicine and Physical Education and Sport Medicine. Currently he is the Director of the Functional Rehabilitation Institute of La Salle University and works at the Exercise Physiology Unit of NISA Clinic in Madrid, which he launched in 2010. Between 1980 and 1988 he also worked as a doctor in the Cardiology service of the Hospital San Carlos and was assistant teacher at the UCM Sports Medicine School.
He holds the best record as individual player in Spanish basketball history. He played for Real Madrid (1972-1988), win-ning 14 league titles, 7 Cups, 3 European Cups, 1 Winners Cup, 1 Copa Korac and 4 Intercontinental Cups. He appeared 177 times in the Spanish team, winning the silver medal in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles ‘84 and in the Nantes European Championship ‘83. He became captain of Real Madrid, the Spanish National Team and the European Selection. Interested in applying his sport experience to team management, leadership and motivation, he joined PW Cooper, in charge of the first coaching of this type in Spain. In 1999 he founded the «makeateam» consultancy, where he worked until 2011. Currently he is working on «teamsoul «, a team development research unit. He is the author of the novel «Conversations with Mirza» and «Stellar Moments in Spanish Basketball «.
He has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award of the Higher Sports Council as the best Spanish professional sports-man of the year 1984, the Villa de Madrid sports award, the Olympic Order of the Spanish Olympic Committee and Gold medal and Spanish Master of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit.
Dessie FARREL
Dessie Farrell is the current Chief Executive of the Gaelic Football player Association (GPA), the representative body for Ireland’s GAA players. A founder member in 1999, Farrell has been a driving force in the development of the organisa-tion which now has over 2,300 current playing members. Appointed CEO in 2003, he oversaw the rapid growth of the organisation and helped negotiate Government funding for players in 2007. The GPA was ratified as the official repre-sentative body for county players at GAA Congress 2010. A long-term agreement between the league and the GPA was reached in November 2010 which now provides annual funding for the GPA’s Player Development Programme designed to assist amateur players with their off-field careers. He is also an active board member of EU Athletes in charge of questions regarding transition and dual career.
Detlef FECHTNER
Dr. Detlef Fechtner studied Political Science, Economy, Modern History and European Studies in Frankfurt (Goethe-Universität) and Brussels (ULB). He obtained a PhD and has been Research associate at the Center for North American Research, Frankfurt and Visiting scholar in Washington, Harvard and Cornell. He was also lecturer and consultant in Czernowitz (Ukraine) and Johannesburg (South Africa).
As a journalist, he has been Editor and Correspondent with a financial news wire (Dow Jones Deutschland) in Frankfurt; Editor and Correspondent with a German national newspaper (Frankfurter Rundschau) in Frankfurt and Brussels; Cor-respondent with 19 German regional newspapers (WAZ Media Group) in Brussels and CorCor-respondent with a German financial daily (Börsen-Zeitung) in Brussels.
Mathieu FONTENEAU
Mathieu Fonteneau has been a consultant on European affairs for the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) since 2006. He is permanently based in Brussels within the EOC EU Office. He is a lawyer specialized in the field of International and European law. Before starting his activities as a consultant for the CNOSF, Mathieu Fonteneau worked in Brussels for several organizations since 2000, notably the European Commission. He was already rapporteur in 2006 for one of the workshop organized during the conference held in Brussels by the European Commission “EU and sport: matching expectations”.
Terhi HEINILÄ
Terhi Heinilä is Secretary General of the International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG). She has a long-time ex-perience on EU sport policy issues and international relations in sport as Director of International Relations in the Finnish Sports Confederation. She was Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Education and Culture during the Finnish EU Presidency in 2006. In 1996 she was National expert in the European Commission.
She holds a Master of Sociology and Administration of Sport from the University of Jyvaskyla.
Ausrys LABINAS
Ausrys Labinas is President of FK Ekranas and ECA Executive Board Member. He was born in Vilnius and holds a Mas-ter’s degree in Information and Communication Science (2001).
He was a board member of FK «Ekranas» from 2005 to 2008 and has been President since 2008.
Bernard LAPASSET
Bernard Lapasset is Chairman of the International Rugby Board. He is in office since 2008 having been re-elected in 2011. He has steered Rugby’s global Governing body through a period of unprecedented growth and spearheaded the successful campaign for Rugby Sevens’ Olympics Games inclusion in October 2009.
As a player, Lapasset represented the Paris Université Club and Agen, before embarking on a distinguished career in administration with the Federation Francaise de Rugby as General Secretary and later as President. A major force behind France’s successful tender for Rugby World Cup 2007, he became President of the Organising Committee in 2004 and delivered the most commercially successful Rugby World Cup ever. His first IRB Presidency came in 1995, a momentous year in Rugby history when Lapasset presided over the Game’s transition into the professional era when the IRB Council voted for the Game to become open. Lapasset also served as vice-president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) and has been co-president of the New Zealand France Friendship Fund since 1993. He is Officier de la Légion d’Honneur and Honorary Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Christophe LEPETIT
Christophe Lepetit is economics researcher and partnerships coordinator at the Centre for the Law and Economics of Sport (CDES) at the University of Limoges (France). He is the author of many articles on sports economics in the review JuriSPORT. He is specialised in the field of professional sports, especially in football. He has coordinated several national studies and was the project manager of the study on “the economic and legal aspects of transfers of players” for the CDES. He was, between 2007 and 2010, Director of two regional leagues for the French Federation of Judo.
Šarūnas MARČIULIONIS
Šarūnas Marčiulionis is one of the best Lithuanian basketball players of all time. He was the first player to go to the NBA from the Soviet Union, and one of the first European players to enter the NBA (1989-1997). Šarūnas is a cavalier of the 1st, 3rd and 4th Order of Gediminas the Great, and Order of the Badge of Honour.
In the 1988 Seoul Olympics Basketball Tournament he won gold medal with the USSR national team. He also competed for the Lithuanian national team in 1992, in Barcelona Olympic games, 1995 – European championship and 1996 – Atlanta Olympic games.In 1992, Šarūnas Marčiulionis opened the first private ŠARŪNAS hotel in Lithuania. Also in 1992, he opened the first private basketball school in Lithuania - “Šarūnas Marčiulionis Basketball School” in Vilnius. In 1993, he founded the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and was its president for 10 years. In 1999, Marčiulionis founded the North European Basketball League (NEBL) and also became its commissioner. For four years Šarūnas Marčiulionis was a member of the board of FIBA EUROPE
Mads ØLAND
Mads Øland is a board member of FIFPro Division Europe and FIFPro. As a football player he played 350 professional matches, playing for four Danish clubs, Viborg FF, KB, Vanløse IF and B.93. Following his professional career in football, Mads became a board member of The Danish Football Players’ Association, Spillerforeningen, in 1987 and has been involved in their work ever since, becoming President (1991-1997), then Director in 1997. Among the major achieve-ments in this time is the Danish football players’ first collective bargaining agreement and the first collective agreement for the Danish national team. Spillerforeningen has also succeeded in promoting legislation on a Sports pension. In 1997 Mads assisted the Danish Handball Players’ Association in constituting a working office and has later coun-selled a number of players’ associations from various sports in establishing a formal and operational position in the respective governing bodies.
Since 2004 Mads has also been Manager of DEF, the Danish Elite Athletes’ Association, which is the confederation of the players’ associations in Denmark.
Mads has participated in FIFPro Congresses and meetings as a representative of Denmark since 1990. He is further represented in the FIFPro Committee for Social Dialogue and the FIFPro Negotiation and Strategic Committee. From 2001 to 2005 he participated in the FIFPro Reform- and Regulation committee.
Mads has a Bachelor degree in Sports from the University of Copenhagen and a Bachelor degree in Economic Geography from the University of Aarhus, and has also been employed as an Educational assistant at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences.
Omar ONGARO
Omar Ongaro is the Head of the Players’ Status and Governance Department of the Fédération Internationale de Foot-ball Association (FIFA). A graduate of the University of Zurich, he joined FIFA in March 2000. Within the Players’ Status Department he was first appointed responsible person for all players’ agents’ matters. He was actively involved in the proceedings leading to FIFA’s recognition of the jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and was sub-sequently in charge within the Players’ Status Department of supervising and coordinating appeal procedures at the CAS involving FIFA. He was appointed Head of Players’ Status in February 2005. As of 1 October 2009 he is the Head of Players’ Status and Governance Department, which apart from being responsible for all players’ status matters also forms the liaison between the Players’ Status Department and the Transfer Matching System GmbH (TMS) as far as legal, regulations-related issues are concerned. In his role, Omar Ongaro leads a team of international lawyers in charge of investigating employment- and transfer-related commercial and contractual disputes involving in particular, clubs and players, but also players’ agents and member associations of FIFA. Omar Ongaro is also a regular lecturer at various Masters in International Sports Law.
Klemensas RIMŠELIS
Klemensas Rimšelis is General Director of the Department of Physical Education and Sports in the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Previously he was a member of the Lithuanian Parliament, namely chairman of the Committee of State governance and municipalities, also a member of the European issues Committee. Before that he was a member of the Kaunas municipality council for 7 years, and for 4 of them he was deputy chairman of the council. There he also chaired a Committee on urban development. During this period he headed the Lithuanian delegation for the Congress of local and regional institutions of the Council of Europe. He graduated as a mechanical engineer of high precision instru-ments. During his scientific career he became inventor and co-author of 11 patented inventions, 3 of which were awarded a golden medal at the international exhibition of the inventions’ EXPO’85. In 1988 he was a member of the Lithuania‘s transformation movement, a delegate of the congress for the re-establishment of the Lithuanian Olympic Committee
Michael RING
Michael Ring is Ireland’s Minister of State with responsibility for Tourism and Sport since March 2011 and has been a member of the Irish Parliament since 1994. Previously he worked as an Auctioneer. Michael has served on a number of Parliamentary Committees including on Women’s Rights; Enterprise and Economic Strategy; and Social and Family Affairs. He has also served as Shadow Spokesperson on Agriculture; Social and Family Affairs; and Health and Children.
Guy TAYLOR
Guy Taylor is National Director of TASS, a talented athletes scholarship scheme, which he designed and implemented to allow athletes to follow a Dual Career pathway.
He is the Chair of the EU Expert Group on Education & Training in Sport, tasked with the development of guidelines and policy in areas such as Dual Career, Coach Qualifications and Development, and National/European Qualification Frameworks.
Taylor is also member of the Executive and Steer Group of the International Athlete Services Forum, an International Fo-rum of Experts in the field of elite athlete career, education and life skill programmes and support. He is an international advisor on Dual Career, currently working with Japanese and Brazilian ministries. He also worked as a University lecturer.
Frederic THIRIEZ
Frederic Thiriez is President of the French Professional Football League since 2002, Counsel of the State Council and the Court of Cassation since 1990, Vice president delegate of the French Football Federation. He is a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (1972), Bachelor of Laws (1973) and former student at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (Promotion André Malraux 1977), began his career in administration. In addition, he was a member of Federal Council of the French Football Federation from 1992 to 1995. Frédéric Thiriez is currently ad interim Chair-man of the Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL), member of the UEFA Professional Football Strategy Council, and member of the FIFA Committees on Club Football and FIFA Players’ Status Committee.
Frederic Thiriez, Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Merit (1990) and Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur (2004) was a member in 1984, with Pierre Mazeaud, of the French expedition Hidden Peak in the Himalayas and a member of the Franco-German expedition in Antarctica in 1989. He is the author of the report on the French polar research that led to the creation of the Polar Institute.
Jan TRUSZCZYŃSKI
Jan Truszczyński has been Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture since May 2010, when he came from the position as Deputy Director-General in the same Directorate-General. He joined the European Commission in January 2007, when he was appointed Deputy Director-General for Enlarge-ment, with responsibility for enlargement strategy and communication.
From 2001 to 2005 Mr. Truszczyński worked in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, first Undersecretary of State, then Secretary of State. In this capacity, he was Poland’s chief negotiator during its EU accession negotiations.
Prior to that, Mr. Truszczyński was Ambassador of Poland to the EU in Brussels from 1996 to 2001.
Androulla VASSILIOU
Androulla VASSILIOU is currently European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, Youth and Sport. Previously, she served as Commissioner for Health, from February 2008 to end 2009. She studied law and interna-tional affairs in London and practiced law in Cyprus for 20 years (1968-1988). During this period she acted as legal advisor to The Standard Chartered Bank and, later, to the Bank of Cyprus. Before her appointment to the European Commission, she was actively involved in politics in her home country, Cyprus. She was twice elected to the Cypriot House of Representatives: in 1996 and 2001 - representing the Movement of United Democrats (affiliated to the European Liberal Democrats and Reform Party ELDR). As a Cypriot parliamentarian, she was an active member of the European Affairs Committee and represented the Cyprus Parliament to the Convention for the future of Europe as an alternate member.
EU Sport Forum 2013
30 September - 01 October 2013 Vilnius, Lithuania
