Students of the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana are the winners of the SLAM – Sports Law Arbitration Moot competition, an international competition in the simulation of arbitration in the field of sports law. In the finals, they have proven better than the University of Zagreb.

SLAM offers students, especially those interested in the field of sports law, the opportunity to test themselves in real situations and experience the decision-making process in front of renowned sports law experts, who cooperate in the SLAM project as arbitrators and evaluators. This year, 14 teams from 10 different European countries were competing in SLAM. The first part were the written proceedings and then the oral examination of their cases in front of real arbitrators. 

Later winners University of Ljubljana were joined by University of Zagreb, University of Belgrade, and Belarussian State University among the top four teams. University of Ljubljana reached the semifinals last year and went all the way this time around. 

“The feeling of victory after last year’s semi-finals is extraordinary. The competition is extremely well set up, as the sports topic is exposed, which can otherwise be quickly missed in legal theory. It brings students closer to the functioning of large institutions, while enabling the application of theory in practice. We were able to defend our views before the eminent names of world sports and legal practice. These are valuable experiences,” said students of the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana after the victory.

The goal is to promote sports law and give opportunities to students

Despite the fact that the original plan for the organization of the finals in Ljubljana was not possible due to the pandemic, the Slovenian Institute of Sports Law – Sport Lex is satisfied with the realization of the second season of the project.

“The goal is to bring sports law closer to young people, encourage their creativity, thinking and offer the opportunity to practice in front of real arbitrators or experts, who solve cases in the field of sports law. At the same time, we want to raise awareness of the importance of sports law in general. It is right that even in the legal field, which belongs to every athlete and sport, we do not lag behind the exceptional success of Slovenian athletes in competitions. From year to year, we want to offer the opportunity to more teams from several countries. To acquaint young people with sports legal theory and, above all, practice. We believe that SLAM will attract a lot of international attention next year as well,” points out Blaž Tomažin Bolcar, a lawyer specializing in sports law and the founder of the Sport Lex Institute.