UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A new book by Penn State Law LL.M. alumnus Amir Saed Vakil offers the first comprehensive analysis of global sports law principles and their application to the context of Iran. The text also includes a forward written by Professor Stephen F. Ross, director of the Penn State Institute for Sports Law, Policy, and Research. "International Sports Law and Football," which is written in Persian, was published this year and exhibited at the 26th Iranian International Book Fair in May.
Vakil began writing the book while he was still a student at Penn State Law to pay tribute to his late father, Abbas Vakil, who was chair of the Persepolis Athletic and Cultural Club, best known for its professional football team, Persepolis F.C. The author says the book was inspired by the Handbook on International Sports Law, co-edited by Ross and James A.R. Nafziger of Willamette University, and also credits Ross for fueling his desire to write the book while Vakil was his student at Penn State Law.
“My hope is that the book may urge Iranian authorities to support two simple and fundamental points,” Vakil said. “First, Iranian sports officials should be more attendant to sports’ international aspects. Iran is not actively involved in sports-related international organizations despite the fact that there are numerous opportunities for Iranians to play more influential roles, especially in the context of Asian sports federations.
“Second, I believe that sports law deserves to be incorporated into the curriculums of Iranian law schools, whether as a course or even separate graduate program,” Vakil said. “Such an approach will provide practical training for law students and prepare them for the competitive legal job market.”
Vakil also believes that Iran’s blossoming achievements in sports like football, volleyball and wrestling, among others, have the potential to create significant economic growth in the country.
His book begins with an introduction of transnational sports law, or lex sportiva. “For nations like Iran seeking to borrow the best applicable standards from elsewhere whilst modifying imported practices to suit their own needs, the global baseline of lex sportiva, provides the means for rigorous analysis of how sports law in Iran should operate,” Ross writes in the English-language forward.
The book then moves into a discussion about the structure of international sports and their governing bodies. From there, Vakil describes existing international sports law principles and offers a comparative study of European and North American sports models. The author then turns his attention to international football law, in particular, and its application to Iranian football.
“Professor Vakil accurately characterizes the challenge of balancing collective and national interests in sports,” Ross writes. “This provides an opportunity to evaluate the current state of Iranian sport and how sports can be improved to benefit Iranian society.”
Vakil earned his LL.M. degree from Penn State Law in 2014 and practices as a legal adviser on international claims in Iran. Prior to enrolling at Penn State Law, he was a professor at the University of Tehran, International Campus—Kish Island and has served as counsel in Iranian international litigation and arbitration cases. He is the author of about 20 books and 30 academic articles, including several books that introduce new concepts to the Iranian legal literature.
Ross, the Lewis H. Vovakis Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Penn State Law, teaches and writes in the disparate areas of sports law and comparative constitutional law, and has provided expert testimony and advice on sports antitrust issues to governmental entities in both the United States and Canada. He previously clerked for Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, served as minority counsel for the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. Senate, and worked as an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.