Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I’m doing.

– Phil Jackson

SABIN GHERDAN

Sabin Gherdan is a sports lawyer and the founding partner of Gherdan & Associates, Romania’s first law firm dedicated exclusively to sports law. With over a decade of practice focused entirely on this field, he represents athletes, coaches, clubs, agents, and federations before Romanian courts, FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (BAT) in Geneva, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.

His highest-profile case came at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where he led the legal team representing the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and gymnast Ana Maria Bărbosu before the CAS Ad-Hoc Division. The ruling, which awarded the Olympic bronze medal to Bărbosu after the American team’s inquiry was found to have been filed past the deadline, received worldwide media coverage and stands as one of the most consequential CAS decisions in recent Olympic history.

A significant part of Sabin’s practice involves representing professional football players and coaches before the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) in cases of unpaid wages, unilateral contract termination, and compensation claims. He understands the specific pressures athletes and coaches face, including the career and financial consequences of protracted disputes, and works to reach enforceable outcomes efficiently at international level.

He also regularly acts for basketball players, coaches and clubs in proceedings before the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (BAT) in Geneva, as well as in disciplinary and contractual matters before Romanian and international federations. His FIBA agent licence, held since 2016, gives him a precise understanding of how player representation and contract structures work in practice.

In 2024, Sabin co-founded the Romanian Court of Sports Arbitration (TRAS) and serves as President of the Romanian Sports Arbitration Association (RSAA), the first national institution of its kind, modelled on CAS and designed to resolve sports disputes faster than the common courts system. He is also a regular speaker at international sports law conferences.

Sabin holds an LL.M. in International Arbitration from the University of Bucharest and is currently a PhD candidate in Sports Law at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, one of the world’s leading institutions in the discipline. He is also a published author on sports arbitration, having contributed articles on international arbitration procedure and contract law in sports to leading Romanian legal publications.

Before law, Sabin spent twelve years as a competitive basketball player, representing Romania at junior national level and winning national titles. That experience shapes his approach: he knows what is at stake for athletes and coaches, and he fights accordingly.

Sabin can be contacted directly at sabin.gherdan@gherdanassociates.com.

RECENT RELEVANT MATTERS:

• Represented the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and Olympic athlete Ana Maria Bărbosu before the Court of Arbitration for Sport during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Successfully challenged the validity of a score inquiry lodged by the American team after the floor exercise final, on the grounds that the inquiry was filed four seconds past the regulatory one-minute deadline. Following five days and four nights of intensive proceedings, CAS ruled in favour of Romania, awarding Bărbosu the Olympic bronze medal.
• Advised and assisted in the negotiation and execution of the employment contract between Dinamo București and Roger Grimau (former head coach of FC Barcelona) securing his appointment as head coach of the Romanian basketball club on a three-year contract worth over €700,000, making him the highest-paid basketball coach in Romania at the time of signing.
• Secured recovery of over €600,000 in outstanding debt for a stadium security services company against a multiple championship-winning football club. The matter was resolved within 30 days of representation.
• Obtained the suspension of a disciplinary ban imposed by a Romanian sports federation on an athlete sanctioned for participating in betting activities within his own sport. The decision was successfully challenged within 60 days of representation. As a direct result, the athlete competed throughout the entire following season and retained his professional contract with his club.
• Advised on and led the full legal structuring and documentation for the establishment of a multi-sport club in Romania that immediately became the largest sports organisation outside the capital upon its founding. Over the following three years, the club operated with a cumulative budget exceeding €23,000,000 across its professional teams competing at the highest national level.
• Secured a court judgment and recovered over €300,000 in favour of a professional coach and player against the largest multi-sport club by budget in the Romanian capital, successfully recovering their full contractual entitlements through civil litigation proceedings.
• Successfully represented professional basketball players in recovering outstanding debts through sporting succession proceedings before FIBA, on two separate occasions, with a combined value of over €500,000. Both cases were resolved in favour of the players and subsequently recognised and enforced in Romania. These remain the only two recorded instances of sporting succession applied outside of football in Romania, establishing a domestic legal precedent in an area previously untested in Romanian sports law beyond the football context.