Soccer Stadiums, Where International Law, Culture and Racism Collide

Abstract

Racism and xenophobia have long introduced themselves as a source of conflict in societies. Soccer stadiums have been struggling with the problem of fan-based racism for a long time. Sport governing bodies, in soccer particularly, along with the Court of Arbitration for Sports are developing a body of law with distinguished principles to fight the plague of racism and hatred in stadiums. These distinguished principles will be analyzed in this article. Despite this progress, there is still a need for cooperation between governments and sport governing bodies. The focus will be on education and dialogue in order to create a cultural change in societies.

Keywords: Racism, International Law, Soccer, Stadiums, Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS, Unintentional Racism, CAS Jurisprudence