24.02.2026 / Deals & Cases

Case: Wenger Vieli advised the Bulgarian Football Union in successful appeals before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court

Leading case on international arbitration: Wenger Vieli wins appeal before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court on behalf of the Bulgarian Football Union against CAS arbitration award

Wenger Vieli represented the Bulgarin Football Union (BFU) in three appeals before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court against arbitration decisions by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).

Before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, the BFU argued that the CAS – and likewise the Players' Status Chamber of the FIFA Football Tribunal (the FIFA PSC) – wrongly affirmed its jurisdiction to hear three labor law claims brought by former coaches against the BFU.

In its judgments of January 27, 2026, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that the FIFA PSC and the CAS lacked jurisdiction to decide the dispute in the absence of an arbitration agreement (case numbers 4A_311/2025, 4A_313/2025, and 4A_315/2025).

The Federal Supreme Court upheld the BFU's appeals, annulled the arbitration awards and remanded the cases to the CAS with the instruction to set aside the previous decisions of the FIFA PSC.

The judgment 4A_313/2025 has been designated by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court as a leading case in international arbitration: judgment.

The team included Peter Hafner (Partner, Litigation) and Manuela Staudenmann (Associate, Litigation).