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Soccerex have announced that during the Asian Forum in Doha, Qatar, December 4-5, a conference panel featuring legal experts with extensive FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) experience will debate ‘The Governance of Football in Asia’. The speakers will include former AFC Head of Sports Legal Services, Disciplinary and Governance James Kitching who is now Managing Director, Kitching Sports and Salman Al-Ansari, Partner in Al-Ansari & Associates, President of the Qatar Players Association and member of the FIFA Appeals Committee. The session will be moderated by Daniel Cravo, Senior Partner in Cravo, Pastl & Balbuena.
James Kitching is a recognised expert in the international sports law industry, with specialised knowledge in football. He started his career as a Paralegal at DLA Phillips Fox before moving on to Old Ignatians Soccer Club and then Australian Securities and Investments Commission. James then took up his role at the AFC, where he spent five years in the Legal Affairs department. He led a team responsible for all sports regulatory matters within Asian football. He is now Managing Director of his own company, Kitching Sports. They are the first specialist international sports regulation and business firm in the Asia-Pacific region and will be officially launched in January 2018. Kitching Sports specialises in providing tailored advice to the international sports industry, with a particular focus on dispute resolution, sports contracts, governance, regulatory advice, investigations and spot-checks, education, and intermediary services.
Salman Al-Ansari is a lawyer and former national Qatari football player who works as a partner at Al-Ansari & Associates, a full-service law firm with practices in the transactional, corporate, litigation, and regulatory areas. Al-Ansari’s distinguished background in law has meant he now has several roles within several Qatar federations and associations including FIFA, Foundation of Qatar Sports Arbitration, Qatar Players Association and the Asian Football Confederation.
Session moderator Daniel Cravo specialises in Sports Law and provides his legal services to football clubs, agents, federations and players, usually involving the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and footballs governing bodies. Daniel is active in the Higher Court of Sports Justice in football related cases as well as being the Vice President of the Special Committee on Legislation and Sports Law at the Brazilian Bar Association.
With the football industry across the world’s most populous region witnessing significant growth, driven by huge private & public sector investment and the hosting of major international tournaments, the implementation of good governance across the industry’s key stakeholder groups is vital to ensure this growth is sustainable. Kitching and Al-Ansari will look at the principles of good governance and how the Asian region can best implement these to combat challenges such as player protection, overdue payments, financial transparency and corruption.
This session is part of a diverse programme of insight panels and presentations focused on the development of the football industry in Asia, tackling tropics ranging from tournament delivery and digital fan engagement to maximising elite player performance.
