Fifa

In 2019, Russia was handed a four-year ban from major international sporting events by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

WADA declared the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) non-compliant over inconsistencies in anti-doping data discovered during an investigation.

At the time, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reiterated its support for Russia's ban, which meant athletes would be unable to compete under the Russian flag at the 2020 Olympics or the 2022 Winter Games.

In a landmark move on Thursday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed Russia would be banned, albeit with the time frame cut from four years to two.

That will still discount Russia from participating in the Tokyo Olympics – pushed back to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic – plus the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022, and the next World Cup.

Russia will, however, be able to compete at the Euro 2020 football finals, which is also scheduled to take place next year, having been another event impacted by COVID-19.

This is because WADA's international standard for code compliance by signatories does not list UEFA as a "major event organisation".

Russian athletes wishing to compete at the Tokyo and Beijing Games will be able to do so, but only under a neutral banner.

CAS stated in its announcement: "This panel has imposed consequences to reflect the nature and seriousness of the non-compliance [to the WADC] and to ensure that the integrity of sport against the scourge of doping is maintained.

"The consequences which the panel has decided to impose are not as extensive as those sought by WADA. This should not, however, be read as any validation of the conduct of RUSADA or the Russian authorities."

CAS also said that its ruling aims to "effect cultural change and encourage the next generation of Russian athletes to participate in clean international sport".

In order to be reinstated at the end of the two-year ban, it was also ruled that RUSADA must pay a contribution of $1.27million to WADA, in respect of the costs incurred in investigating the authenticity of the data retrieved from the Moscow laboratory in January 2019.

RUSADA, under supervision from WADA or the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), was told it must conduct investigations into any cases impacted by the deletions or alterations of the Moscow laboratory data.

The Russian organisation must also provide any other support requested by WADA to assist in determining whether athletes whose samples are listed in the Moscow laboratory database have a case to answer.

The High Court granted permission a day after said lawyers notified the Court of Arbitration for Sport that they were withdrawing their appeal against FIFA’s decision to appoint a normalization committee to govern the affairs of the TTFA, citing concerns of institutional bias in favour of the world-governing body.

Since FIFA is not a situated in Trinidad and Tobago, the lawyers had to seek permission to serve documents on football’s world governing body by email or courier service pursuant to Part 7.2(b) of the Civil Proceedings Rules.

The lawyers have filed a claim before the High Court seeking a permanent injunction to prevent FIFA from interfering or seeking to override the “fair and transparent democratic processes of the TTFA and/or preventing them from removing the executive of duly elected officers from office.”

They are also seeking a permanent injunction against FIFA preventing FIFA and/or its agents from interfering with the day-to-day management of the association, including its bank accounts, website and real property.

They are also seeking damages and costs.

Acting on instructions, the lawyers from the firm New City Chambers notified CAS on Monday that they were withdrawing because of what they said was institutional bias in favour of FIFA leaving them to believe they would not be able to get a fair hearing.

Wallace described the ongoing dispute with FIFA as a battle against injustice in a video that was circulated on Monday.

In the video that is just over five minutes long, Wallace said since 2005, FIFA has appointed normalisation committees to run the affairs of 33 associations. The TTFA is the only one that was normalized and their officers were not culpable for the reasons given by FIFA.

He explained that when the previous administration went into office in 2015, the TTFA had accrued debts of TT$15 million. By the time they were defeated in the elections held in November 2019, the debt had ballooned to TT$50 million.

“But more than the debt, the main reason that there was a lack of financial structures in the organisation is passing strange in that FIFA, in every single year would do an audit of the TTFA and the audit did not reveal the lack of internal fiscal policy and systems in the organisation,” Wallace said.

“And, it is only when we pointed it out to them that they actually used that same thing to make a decision to remove us from office.”