The Court of Arbitration for Sport publishes its cost rules and its scale, so you can estimate in advance what an appeal in Lausanne costs. This article sets out the Court Office fee, the advance of costs, the free procedure of Article R65 and its limits, and the legal aid that CAS and the Football Legal Aid Fund can grant.
The costs of an ordinary arbitration (not an appeal against a decision)
Article R64.1 requires a Court Office fee of CHF 1,000 (about EUR 1,065) with the Statement of Appeal. It is not refundable, and CAS does not proceed without it. Article R48 makes the payment part of the filing. A separate request for provisional measures under Article R37 carries the same amount, which you pay once per procedure.
Once the Panel is formed, the CAS Court Office fixes the advance of costs. Article R64.2 splits it in equal shares between appellant and respondent. If one party does not pay its share, the other may pay in its place. If the full advance is not paid in time, the appeal is deemed withdrawn and CAS terminates the arbitration. Article R64.5 leaves it to the Panel to decide who finally bears those costs.
The Schedule of Arbitration Costs, in force since 1 July 2025, sets the rest. Administrative costs run from CHF 100 to CHF 2,000 (about EUR 107 to EUR 2,130) for a dispute up to CHF 50,000, and reach a flat CHF 25,000 (about EUR 26,625) above CHF 10,000,000. The arbitrators are paid by the hour, from CHF 300 to CHF 500 (about EUR 320 to EUR 530) according to the amount in dispute. All euro amounts use the European Central Bank reference rate of 3 September 2026.
The costs of an appeal against a federation decision
Article R65 makes an appeal procedure free of arbitration costs, save for the Court Office fee. It covers appeals against decisions “which are exclusively of a disciplinary nature and which are rendered by an international federation or sports-body”.
Both conditions have to be met. The decision must be exclusively disciplinary, and an international federation or sports body must have rendered it. A disciplinary decision of a national federation falls instead under Article R64. Clubs and athletes in small countries sometimes wrongly assume the opposite.
Article R65 also does not cover sanctions imposed after a dispute of an economic nature. And under Article R65.4 the President of the Appeals Arbitration Division may apply Article R64 anyway where the circumstances warrant it.
What the free procedure still does not cover
Article R65.2 provides that the proceedings are free and that CAS bears the arbitrators’ costs and its own. Three items stay with you.
- The Court Office fee. The CHF 1,000 is still due on filing, and without it the appeal is deemed withdrawn.
- Your own witnesses, experts and interpreters, which Article R65.3 leaves with each party.
- A contribution to the other side’s legal fees. Article R65.3 keeps the Panel’s discretion to award one without a request, so a losing appellant in a free procedure can still be ordered to contribute. The Panel also often orders each party to bear its own legal costs.
Legal aid and the Football Legal Aid Fund
The CAS Guidelines on Legal Aid apply to procedures started as from 1 July 2025. The ICAS Athletes’ Commission decides in its absolute discretion, its decision is not open to appeal, and the application itself is free.
Article 5 opens legal aid to a natural person whose income and assets do not cover the costs without drawing on what they need to support themselves and their family. It can release you from the procedural costs or the advance, give you pro bono counsel from the CAS list, and cover travel and accommodation for a hearing. Under Article 11 that release also removes the Court Office fee, and CAS reimburses it if you already paid. Article 6 excludes sports bodies, associations, clubs and other legal entities, and refuses legal aid where CAS obviously has no jurisdiction or where the claim or the defence is frivolous or vexatious.
Football has its own fund, open to any natural person in a national or international football matter, including an agent with a FIFA licence. A club reaches it only through Article 8, on three conditions:
- it is affiliated to a FIFA member association;
- it sits in category IV of the FIFA table on the categorization of clubs for training compensation;
- it can prove that paying the arbitration costs would harm its ability to pay employees or the social and tax authorities on time.
Where the fund grants aid, the procedure is free and every appointed arbitrator works pro bono. Legal aid never applies retroactively. Under Article 20 you can still be ordered at the end to contribute to the prevailing party’s legal fees, and legal aid does not cover that contribution.
What to ask before you start
- Which body rendered the decision, and is it national or international? The answer decides whether Article R64 or Article R65 applies.
- Is the decision exclusively disciplinary, or does an economic dispute sit behind the sanction?
- What is the amount in dispute? The administrative costs and the arbitrators’ hourly rate follow it.
Everest Sports Law works from Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp and Hasselt and acts in international cases for athletes and clubs. We set out our cost position before we begin, and you can ask any lawyer to do the same.
Further questions? Feel free to contact us on 09/334.94.70, via the contact form or via sport@everest-law.be.