ABSTRACT

An apparent escalation in on-field corruption (doping and match-fixing) in professional sports has led to increasing numbers of athletes facing bans and a loss of livelihood as a consequence of decisions taken by sporting tribunals, as part of a regulatory system referred to as lex sportiva (a type of transnational law). The chapter considers what is the ‘rule of law’ that regulates on-field corruption, and concludes that it is a complex web of law, since sports governing bodies now share with the state many aspects of the sanctioning of on-field corruption.