How to Become a Sports Lawyer

How to Become a Sports Lawyer is a one-week sports law course in Lisbon, run by Golpath Institute. It offers real access to the sports law world, and the practical training to work in it — from club contracts to governance and CAS arbitration. Along the way you meet professionals working across different parts of the field, so you can work out where you fit.

Rather than following a fixed curriculum, the week is built around real cases and the career routes that lead into sports law.

- **Real cases:** a transfer dispute from first complaint to final ruling, a contract negotiation for a player, club or agency, structuring a sponsorship deal, a doping case through to a CAS appeal, and a governance dispute between a club, federation or governing body - **Career routes:** sports teams at law firms, in-house roles at clubs, leagues and federations, arbitration and governing-body roles (CAS, federation legal and disciplinary committees), and building your own sports law practice - **Your own pathway:** on the final day you reflect on the week, map where you want to be in 3–5 years and the first steps to get there, and receive mentoring and feedback from the team

Sessions with industry professionals including lawyers, agents and sports organisation leaders; practical workshops with case studies, role-plays and real-world exercises; visits to clubs and sports organisations in Lisbon; a small international intake; a personal pathway session on the final day; and a Golpath Institute certificate of participation awarded at the closing session. Travel, accommodation and meals are not included; Golpath can help arrange accommodation.

The course is led by Jan Schweele LL.M., Founding Partner of Berlin Sports Law, with more than ten years in international sports law including representing clients before FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Previous editions have featured CAS arbitrator Prof. Dr. Martin Schimke (Of Counsel, Bird & Bird) and sports lawyer and international arbitrator Rosalía Ortega. The 2027 line-up will be announced soon.

Law students and recent graduates who want to specialise in sport, practising lawyers moving into sport, and anyone aiming for governance, arbitration or club-side legal roles. No law degree is required — a genuine interest in sports law is enough.

The programme runs once a year, from 19 to 24 July 2027, in person in Lisbon. It is taught in English (B2 minimum) and open to participants aged 18+. The programme fee is €2,990 including VAT, with an early-bird rate of €2,240 if booked by 31 December 2026. You can pay in one payment, in two instalments, or reserve your place with €500 to lock in the early-bird price.

Golpath Institute runs short, practical sports education programmes in Lisbon. All programmes sit under Berlin Sports, an international sports agency founded in 2012 that has worked with more than 1,100 football clubs across 100+ countries, and participants get direct access to that network. Golpath Institute grew out of the Berlin Sports summer school in Lisbon, now in its third edition.