Mathieu Baert

Mathieu Baert, sports lawyer and partner at Everest, heads the firm’s Sports Law department. He advises athletes, clubs, federations and agents on matters that can shape their careers or organisations: transfers and contract negotiations, disciplinary and doping cases, governance and integrity, and disputes before the ordinary courts as well as the Belgian Sports Arbitration Court (BAS), the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS/CAS) and the FIFA Football Tribunal. His approach: one dedicated point of contact and direct communication.

At the same time, he has access to the full expertise of Everest, with specialists in employment, tax, corporate and competition law.

His practice is built on a broad academic background. Mathieu obtained master’s degrees in Criminology (2013), Law (2015) and Business Economics (2017), and has been an academic staff member specialising in Crime & Sport at Ghent University since 2020. He regularly publishes and lectures on sports fraud and on the case law of the BAS and TAS.

Legal 500 has recognised him since 2021 as one of the leading figures in Belgian sports law.

In 2025, he was described as “a key port of call among international sports agencies, individual elite teams and athletes, and major leagues and federations”.

In 2025, he received the Lexology (formerly “Who’s Who Legal”) Client Choice Award – Sports Law for Belgium and was recognised as “Highly Recommended”.

Mathieu sits on the disciplinary committee of the Flemish Judo Federation. As a former judoka and cyclist, he knows the sporting world not only from a legal perspective, but also from the inside.

Publications

• BAERT, M. & POLLET, T., The Diarra Judgement and its Muted Aftermath in European Football: Lessons from Two Transfer Windows and the Belgian Law of 1978, Football Legal, 2025, afl. 3, pp. 157-161.
• BAERT, M., “De fee-cap voor voetbalagenten: een juridische marathon richting het Europees Hof van Justitie”, Sociaal-Economische Wetgeving – Tijdschrift voor Europees en Economisch Recht, Kluwer, 2025, afl. 6, pp. 287-297.
• BAERT, M. & VANDERCRUYSSE, L., “Private omkoping & matchfixing: geen perfecte match”, nullum crimen, Intersentia, afl. 5, pp. 343-358.
• BAERT, M., “Rechtspraak bij het Belgisch Arbitragehof voor Sport” in VERBIST, H. (ed.), Arbitrage in sport, 2021, available at SSRN.
• BAERT, M., “Sancties onder de nieuwe WADA-Code: een stand van zaken”, Sportrecht Journaal, Die Keure, 2016, afl. 2.