EXCLUSIVE: Full 50-Page CAS Ruling – IFAF v. Wiking

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), or Tribunal Arbitral du Sport (TAS), has sent its final ruling to the parties involved in the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) arbitration. IFAF in turn has sent it out to member nations.

AFI has obtained a copy of the document from an anonymous source and has chosen to publish it. Skip to the bottom to view it in it’s entirety.

Waiting for CAS ruling

It’s been nearly seven months since we announced that CAS ruled in favor of the group of nations that stated Tommy Wiking had in fact resigned as president of IFAF on April 30, 2015 and that ‘any and all actions’ taken by Wiking as President or on behalf of IFAF are ‘null and void.’

Just this week, doubt was raised as to whether the CAS did in fact rule on the matter, as no ruling had been released to the public. The veracity of a letter that Richard MacLean published, stated he had been declared the legitimate President of IFAF, has been brought into question by high-ranking American football officials in Germany.

Robert Huber, President of the American Football Federation of Germany (AFVD) spoke to the German American football website ran.de:

“Unfortunately nobody has seen this verdict by CAS. Have you met anyone who has seen it? The AFVD has sent a message to Richard McLean requiring evidence of his legitimacy as IFAF President, especially asking if this verdict really exists and if it is accessible. We also told him we would be wiling to talk to anyone who is the legitimate President of IFAF. We are waiting for a reply, but we are not very optimistic that we will receive one.”

The 50-page document below lays out in careful, organized detail the events which led to the 2015 walkout by Tommy Wiking at the IFAF Congress in Canton, Ohio and describes the drama that unfolded in the aftermath of the “coup d’état”.

The document reveals the testimony delivered by both parties at the CAS hearings held in August/September 2017 as well as the claims and counter claims in the case.

It is truly an eye-opening document.

Resolution?

With this, the war that has raged since July 2015, and ripped apart the international football community, sees a definitive judgement.

This conflict, which was ignited by the cancellation of the IFAF World Championships in Stockholm and led to the split between IFAF into IFAF Paris and IFAF New York factions, has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars according to one source, and hurt the growth of American football worldwide.

Nations could not schedule games against one another for fear of sanctions from one side or the other.

IFAF European Championships back on track but missing Germany

Hopefully, the international American football community can now begin to heal again. Progress has already begun. The IFAF European Championships have been scheduled to take place in July/August of this year in Finland. Participating nations include Austria and France, who will join Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain and Finland. The question is, will other countries follow suit and return to the fold?

Germany will not participate. Huber was adamant that no one has told his federation:

“No one has invited us. There is no official body in Germany that has been told that there is an American football championship in Finland, there is no message from any international association.”

It is clear that the verdict from CAS does not necessarily mean there is smooth sailing ahead. The federations from Germany, Holland, Spain and Belgium remain adrift, and IFAF must still contend with the looming threat of expulsion from the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) due to unpaid bills incurred during the reign of the now disposed Wiking.