CAS 2017/O/5025, International Federation of American Football (IFAF), USA Football, Football Canada, Japanese American Football Association (JAFA), Panamanian Federation of American Football and Richard MacLean v. Tommy Wiking, Award of 1 March 2018

In the CAS 2017/O/5025 matter, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dealt with the legal consequences of a change of heart by a sport official who had resigned from his position, but then decided he wanted to resume office. The Panel had to review the exchanges of correspondence between the official and the Executive Board and to assess if these included a mere declaration of intent or an unequivocal declaration of resignation on the official’s part. In this regard, the context in which the declaration was made, the sequence of events leading up to it and the official’s choice of words were all relevant to establishing the declaration’s true meaning and thus its legal consequences. The Award shows that, absent a formal letter, an array of converging documents can be sufficient to establish the existence of a declaration of resignation. The legal consequences of the declaration of resignation, including the possibility of a recall, are then to be assessed against the statutes of the relevant international governing body and the laws of the country in which it is incorporated.