Strict Liability of Club’s Reaffirmed in UEFA Competitions - By Georgi GRADEV & Jakob ŠTRASNER

CAS 2023/A/10223 NK Olimpija Ljubljana v. UEFA

Date of the decision: 2025-03-19

Arbitrator(s): Francesco Macri Patrick Grandjean Daan de Jong

Supporter misconduct, however minor, continues to trigger UEFA’s strict liability regime. In NK Olimpija Ljubljana v. UEFA (CAS 2023/A/10223), CAS upheld sanctions for objects thrown onto the pitch, reaffirming that clubs bear responsibility regardless of fault or harm, while applying the lex mitior principle to annul a secondary fine under UEFA’s newly softened 2024 Disciplinary Regulations.

Introduction

The award in CAS 2023/A/10223^[1] (Award) revisits one of UEFA’s most established disciplinary principles: strict liability for supporter misconduct. The Award illustrates how regulatory amendments during pending proceedings may lead to the application of lex mitior, i.e. the rule requiring the use of the more lenient regulation.

The case arose from incidents during the UEFA Europa League (UEL) play-off match between NK Olimpija Ljubljana (Olimpija) and Qarabağ FK (Qarabağ), held in Ljubljana on 24 August 2023, where home supporters threw multiple plastic cups onto the pitch in the 81^st and 90+5’ minutes...

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