From March 4 to March 15, the preliminary rounds of the 3rd International Sports Arbitration Moot (SAM) were successfully held online. Organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Swiss Arbitration Academy and Université de Neuchâtel, the event attracted 71 university teams from all over the world. It attracted 71 university teams from all over the world, including Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanjing University, China University of Political Science and Law, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, East China University of Political Science and Law and other domestic institutions, as well as Queen Mary University of London, University of Miami, University of Lyon III, Singapore Management University, Bond University and other world-famous universities. This is the first time for our team to participate in this event. After three heated preliminary rounds, our team was selected as one of the top 16 in the preliminary round with a global score of 9th, and successfully advanced to the knockout round to be held in Madrid, Spain in late May, becoming one of the only two Chinese teams to advance in this tournament.
This year's Wuhan University SAM team is coached by Prof. Xiao Yongping, Director of the Institute of International Law, and Sun Hongda, Master of Private International Law, Class of 2020, as assistant coach. The team members include Ph.D. student of Sports Law, class of 2022, Mr. P.H. Wang of the School of Law, Mr. Shanglin Wang, M.A. student of Private International Law, class of 2022, Ms. Jingwen Wang, LL.M. student of class of 2022, Ms. Xiaolu Zhu, M.A. student of Private International Law, class of 2023, Ms. Zhiheng Wang, M.A. student of Private International Law, class of 2023, and Ms. Fengying Cheng, M.A. student of International Law, class of 2023, of the China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies of Wuhan University. Wu Binbin, 2023 Master of Jurisprudence student, Wang Linxin, 2023 Master of Private International Law student, and Bingxin, 2020 undergraduate student of the School of Law, served as auxiliary team members. Among them, Wang Zhiheng, a 2023 master's student of private international law, and Cheng Fengyao, a 2023 master's student of international law from China Academy of Boundary and Ocean Studies, performed the oral arguments as the upper team members.
On March 4, March 7 and March 12, our team competed fiercely with the teams of Université de Montpellier (France), Edge Hill University (UK) and Al-Azhar University (Egypt) in the round-robin tournament respectively. The teams from Edge Hill University (UK) and Al-Azhar University (Egypt) competed in a round robin tournament. In the process, the arbitrators asked a lot of basic and difficult questions about the presentations of the players on the field. By virtue of their familiarity with the facts and in-depth analysis of the legal issues, the team members were finally recognized by the arbitrators and their opponents, and the teams also benefited from the arbitrators' valuable comments and suggestions after the competition.
The team has been preparing for the competition for six months, meeting regularly, researching and discussing difficult issues, exchanging and sharing the results of legal searches and literature research, revising and polishing the draft of the courtroom arguments for many times, and actively organizing simulated oral debates within the team. The team was able to advance to the knockout rounds without the strong support of Wuhan University School of Law and Wuhan University Institute of International Law. During the preparation process, Prof. Xiao Yongping, Director of the Institute of International Law, Associate Prof. Zou Guoyong, Prof. Li Zhi from Fuzhou University Law School, Prof. Guo Shuli from Soochow University Law School, and Prof. Zhou Qingshan from Xiangtan University Law School, provided very valuable and inspiring guidance and assistance to the team.
