Bulgaria Knocks Off European Boxing Confederation in Lausanne

The Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sports amateur ruled Thursday that the European Boxing Confederation acted illegally when it moved the European amateur boxing championships from Bulgaria to Turkey. Photo by EPA

Bulgaria has won the legal battle with the European Boxing Confederation for stripping it of hosting rights of the European amateur boxing championships.

The championship was scheduled to take place 10-19 June in Sofia, but was moved to Ankara.

The Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Spruled Thursday that the European Boxing Confederation acted illegally when it moved the European amateur boxing championships from Bulgaria to Turkey, but refused to give it back the hosting rights.

CAS said the European confederation overstepped its powers by imposing a sanction on the Bulgarians which is not enshrined in its statutes.

"The withdrawal of the hosting rights from Bulgaria was therefore illegal and under normal circumstances, Bulgaria should have kept the right to host the European Men Championships 2011," it said.

However, the court found that with the games due to begin Friday, Turkey as a hosting country has "incurred significant costs for organizing the event."

"Turkey is a bone fides third party, whose rights also must be protected," it added.

"In the normal course of events, the hosting rights would revert to Bulgaria," said the court.

"However, given the time constraints and the fact that the championships are due to commence on 10 June 2011, the costs, resulting from a decision to reinstate Bulgaria Boxing Federation in its hosting rights would be disproportionate," it added.

Furthermore, the European Confederation has been obliged to publicly declare that the decision to move the European boxing championship from Bulgaria to Turkey has been illegal and therefore has made an obvious mistake that should not be repeated in the future.

The ruling is final and is not subject to appeal.