The Portuguese Supreme Constitutional Court (TC), the highest court in the portuguese judiciary, decided not to rule on an appeal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office against a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAD) that awarded the national championship title to British driver Kris Meeke.
In the ruling issued on November 6th, Judge Afonso Patrão justified the decision not to “take cognizance” of the appeal by stating that the TAD awarded the Portuguese championship title to a foreigner citizen not only based on two articles of the Portuguese Constitution, but also on European law.
According to the judge, it would be “useless” to analyze the issue because “a possible negative judgment of unconstitutionality” would leave “the decision untouched.”
In other words, in the future, if any foreigner becomes the Portuguese champion in an individual sport, they can always invoke the TAD decision, but also this Constitutional Court ruling that leaves everything unchanged.
Kris Meeke, who was born in Northern Ireland and is a British citizen, was the highest-scoring driver in the national rally championship last season, driving a Hyundai for Sports & You Rally Team.
However, the National Automobile and Karting Federation did not award him the championship title based on the legal framework governing federations, which stipulates that: “In the case of individual sports, titles can only be awarded to national citizens.”
And, “agreeing or not,” the federation did not award the championship title to any driver.
Meeke’s team appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which overturned the FPAK’s decision with two arguments: the rule governing the legal framework of federations is “unconstitutional” and goes against “European Law.”
As always happens whenever the constitutionality of a rule is questioned, the Public Prosecutor’s Office took the case to the Constitutional Court, and the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Luís Eloy, issued an opinion contrary to that of the TAD.
According to this magistrate, “it is legitimate to reserve the title of national champion for a national, given that nationality can be considered an inherent characteristic of the national champion title.”
He explained: “The title aims, after all, to determine the best national athlete. It is a justified differentiation. One cannot be a national champion if one is not a national.”
And he cited the example of cycling: “Another interpretation could lead the Slovenian Tadej Pogačar to be champion in several countries in the same year.”
But Afonso Patrão did not analyze the substantive issue, contradicting the position of Luís Eloy, who argued that the TAD ruling was limited to citing “a ruling of the European Court” and not a “specific norm.”
The immediate result of this non-decision by the Constitutional Court is that Meeke retains the 2024 title and the 2025 champion, the Spaniard Daniel Sordo, will not see his title questioned.
Tribuna Expresso contacted the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport to find out if there will be any changes to the legal framework of federations, considering the decisions of the TAD (Arbitration Court for Sport) and the TC (Constitutional Court).
According to the Secretary of State for Sports, Pedro Dias, “the reading of the ruling does not reveal that the Legal Regime of Sports Federations contains any unconstitutional provision.” In other words, there will be no change.
