Judicial Scrutiny in Sports Arbitration: Lessons from Semenya (ECtHR) and Seraing (CJEU)

The recent rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (Grand Chamber) in Semenya (10 July 2025) and the Court of Justice of the European Union in Seraing (1 August 2025) highlight the growing importance of effective judicial review in sports arbitration. Despite arising from different contexts - human rights protection versus economic freedoms - the two rulings converge on fundamental principles concerning the intensity of judicial review over arbitral decisions. Given that the facts underlying the two cases, as well as their outcomes, are widely known, the article seeks to draw a parallel between the two decisions across the aforementioned dimensions. It argues that sports arbitration can no longer function as an autonomous enclave insulated from supranational legal standards and that strengthened judicial review has emerged as a unifying criterion for national and supranational courts. The study demonstrates how these cases extend beyond the sports sector, shaping international arbitration and legal oversight standards more broadly.