Chapter | Legal 500 | 2026
We set out sports law in Poland in the Poland chapter of the Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides 2026, published by Legalease: from the Sports Act amendment in force since 22 May 2026, through arbitration, advertising and sponsorship, to club ownership, agents and esports.
The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides 2026 are a series of country-specific question-and-answer guides published by Legalease. The chapter Poland: Sports Law sets out sports law in Poland in 14 questions, so you can compare Poland with other jurisdictions in the series.
The chapter was written by Łukasz Kudela, a partner at Wołoszański & Partners and head of its sports law practice. The firm is the sole contributor of the Poland chapter (Exclusive Contributor 2026). The publisher does not state a law-as-at date; the latest date in the chapter is 22 May 2026. You can read the full text on the Legal 500 website (opens in a new tab).
This text is an overview of the rules and the legal position. How WLAW works with clubs, sponsors and organisers is on our sports law service page. From the same series, we also covered the chapter on blockchain law in Poland.
Sports law in Poland has no single code: the principal statute is the Act of 25 June 2010 on Sport (the Sports Act), alongside the Act of 21 April 2017 on Combating Doping in Sport, the Act of 20 March 2009 on the Safety of Mass Events, and the Civil Code, Labour Code and Code of Civil Procedure. The rules of a particular discipline come from the regulations of Polish sports federations: competitions, licensing, transfers, disciplinary liability and internal dispute resolution.
The system combines public supervision with the autonomy of sport. The minister responsible for physical culture, acting through the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, checks under Article 16 of the Sports Act that Polish sports federations comply with the law, their statutes and their regulations. The minister can request resolutions and explanations and conduct inspections, but supervision does not extend to disciplinary decisions or to decisions applying regulations in the conduct of competitions.
Polish sports federations are separate legal entities, not government authorities. The Act gives them, among other things, the organisation of competitions for the title of Polish Champion and the Polish Cup, and the setting of sporting rules. The Polish Olympic Committee (PKOl) and the Polish Paralympic Committee (PKPar) run the Olympic and Paralympic movements, but they do not supervise sport as a whole.
The Act of 13 March 2026 amending the Sports Act (Journal of Laws 2026, item 615), in force since 22 May 2026, extended to sports referees the criminal-law protection afforded to public officials and improved the rules on sports scholarships after childbirth.
A referee has this protection when performing duties at competitions organised by the entities listed in Article 38a of the Sports Act. Violating a referee's bodily integrity, using violence or an unlawful threat to influence their duties, and insulting a referee can lead to liability under Articles 222-226 of the Criminal Code, meaning more severe penalties. The amendment does not make a referee a public official; it grants special protection under criminal law. If you run a club or organise events, remember that criminal liability operates independently of disciplinary liability.
A female member of a national team who becomes unable to practise sport as a result of pregnancy or childbirth receives her sports scholarship for 12 months after the birth (previously six months), at 81.5% of the awarded amount (previously 50%). The new rules apply, as appropriate, to scholarships awarded by local government units.
Poland's main sports tribunal is the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the Polish Olympic Committee (Trybunał Arbitrażowy do Spraw Sportu), a permanent arbitration court operating under Article 45a of the Sports Act and the Code of Civil Procedure; do not confuse it with the CAS in Lausanne. It has 24 arbitrators appointed by the PKOl Executive Board for four years. The Tribunal resolves disputes covered by a valid arbitration agreement and reviews final disciplinary decisions of Polish sports federations.
You have 14 days from service of the decision to bring your appeal. No appeal lies in matters concerning the technical rules of the game. The Tribunal may set a decision aside and refer the case back if evidence has to be taken in its entirety or to a substantial extent. Its disciplinary ruling can be challenged by a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court for a flagrant violation of the law or manifest injustice: you lodge it through the Tribunal within 30 days of service of the ruling with its reasons. These rules do not apply to doping cases.
Federations may set up their own bodies: in football, the Polish Football Association (PZPN) has the Football Arbitration Court (Piłkarski Sąd Polubowny). Disciplinary bodies must be distinguished from arbitration tribunals that resolve civil disputes. Under general law you can also use mediation, settlement and conciliation, but Poland has no general sports ombudsman deciding disputes across all disciplines.
An arbitration agreement has limits under Article 1157 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Disputes over property rights are generally arbitrable, except maintenance claims, while disputes over non-property rights are arbitrable only if they can be settled before a court. The right forum therefore depends on the type of dispute, the applicable law, the federation's regulations and whether you have a valid agreement.
Poland allows betting operators holding a Polish permit to sponsor sport and allows beer advertising on strict conditions, but it prohibits tobacco companies from sponsoring sport and prohibits communicating sponsorship by producers and distributors of beverages above 18% alcohol. You therefore assess each logo on a shirt or an advertising board separately, by product type and form of communication.
The Act of 26 October 1982 on Upbringing in Sobriety and Counteracting Alcoholism generally prohibits alcohol advertising, except for beer. Beer advertising must not target or depict minors, link alcohol with physical fitness or driving, encourage excessive drinking, or suggest success, relaxation or sexual attractiveness. It is banned on television, radio, in cinemas and theatres from 6:00 to 20:00, except for advertising by the organiser of a competitive or professional sporting event during that event. On boards and other surfaces, including in stadiums and arenas, a warning takes up at least 20% of the space. A producer or distributor of beverages with 8-18% alcohol communicates sponsorship generally only by name and trademark.
The Act of 9 November 1995 on the Protection of Health against the Consequences of Tobacco and Tobacco Product Use prohibits advertising and promoting tobacco products and certain related products, including e-cigarettes, refill containers and nicotine pouches. The ban covers sports facilities, the media and the internet. Sponsoring sport in breach of the Act carries a fine of up to PLN 200,000, restriction of liberty, or both.
The Act of 19 November 2009 on Gambling allows advertising of betting conducted under the relevant permit, on the conditions in Article 29b. The advertising must not target minors, link betting with fitness or easy winnings, present gambling as a way out of problems, encourage higher stakes or suggest success. It is banned on television, radio, in cinemas and theatres from 6:00 to 22:00, except for advertising broadcast during the transmission of a sporting event where the operator sponsors the event or a team or athletes actively taking part in it. Betting advertising is also generally banned in public places. The exception covers mass and sporting events where the operator sponsors the event, a participating team or athletes, or a sports federation associated with the event, and it extends only to advertising the sponsor's betting or the sponsor itself. The advertising must carry the required notices on risk, the consequences of illegal gambling and the operator's permit. Mere sponsorship information follows narrower rules under Article 29(3): it is limited to the sponsor's name or another identifying designation.
Match-fixing in Poland is prosecuted mainly under Articles 46-49a of the Sports Act: accepting, giving or promising a benefit in exchange for dishonest conduct that may affect the result or course of a competition carries six months to eight years in prison. The result does not actually have to be manipulated. The provision covers competitions organised by a Polish sports federation or by an entity acting under an agreement with it or authorised by it, so not every manipulation meets its elements.
Article 47 covers a person who knows of such an offence and bets on the competition or passes on the information so that someone else can bet: three months to five years. Article 48 addresses trading in influence in sport, with six months to eight years. Under Article 49, a perpetrator of certain offences of giving a benefit may avoid liability by voluntarily notifying law enforcement and disclosing the material circumstances. Article 49a provides for a mandatory ban on holding certain positions and, on a subsequent conviction, a lifetime ban.
Corruption in sport also reaches private individuals, because the provisions do not require public-official status. Depending on the case, Article 296a of the Criminal Code, damages under Article 415 et seq. of the Civil Code and invalidity under Article 58 of that Code may also apply. Separately, federation regulations provide for financial penalties, disqualification and bans on performing functions. According to the chapter, on 7 January 2026 the PZPN Disciplinary Officer reminded clubs of the risks of manipulated friendly matches and of the duty to report suspicions.
Poland signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (the Macolin Convention) on 7 July 2015 but has not ratified it. In 2017, an informal group was set up at the Ministry of Sport and Tourism to monitor suspicious betting. Betting operators need a Polish permit from the minister responsible for public finances; a permit from another country is not enough in itself. They must also keep out persons under 18, identify participants and keep records to the extent the law requires, and pay gambling tax. Domains of illegal operators can be entered in the register of domains offering gambling in breach of the Act. Betting operators are also significant sponsors of Polish sport and can flag unusual betting patterns.
Poland has no single institution for all breaches of sports integrity: the Polish Anti-Doping Agency (POLADA) deals with doping, the Disciplinary Panel decides doping cases, federations enforce ethics and disciplinary rules, and criminal offences belong to law enforcement and the ordinary courts.
POLADA operates under the Act of 21 April 2017 and is a state legal entity supervised by the minister. It sets anti-doping rules, plans and conducts testing, manages results, carries out investigations and education, and applies the Polish Anti-Doping Rules, which incorporate the World Anti-Doping Code. The Disciplinary Panel (Article 35 of that Act) decides at first and second instance and is functionally separate from POLADA in its adjudication. It has up to 20 members, with at least five at each instance, appointed by the minister for three years. Membership is incompatible with a position in the governing bodies of a Polish sports federation.
If your club works with minors, check whether it falls under the Act of 13 May 2016 on Counteracting Threats of Sexual Crime and the Protection of Minors. Entities within its scope implement standards for the protection of minors: rules on safe relationships between staff and minors, prohibited conduct, and intervention and reporting procedures. Poland has no single statute that protects all participants in sport from violence and provides a uniform complaints procedure.
Polish law imposes no general prohibition on foreign ownership of professional sports clubs and no sport-specific cap on foreign shareholdings, so a foreign investor can, as a general rule, acquire shares in such clubs. A club must operate as a legal entity (Article 3 of the Sports Act). It may be a limited liability company, a joint-stock company or an association; there is no single mandatory model. Owners may include individuals, companies, institutional investors and local government units.
Professional leagues set higher requirements. In team sports, only joint-stock and limited liability companies may take part (Article 15(3)), and the PZPN Club Licensing Manual requires Ekstraklasa clubs to be joint-stock companies. An investor must also consider general rules that are not specific to sport: merger control, foreign investment screening, anti-money laundering and, at times, the acquisition of real estate by foreigners.
Poland has no single club licensing system. In the Ekstraklasa, the criteria cover sporting matters, infrastructure, personnel and administration, legal and financial matters, including disclosure of the ownership structure and the absence of certain overdue liabilities. Failure to comply can lead to licensing sanctions, refusal or revocation.
Multi-club ownership (MCO) is rare in Poland; multi-sport clubs under one brand are more common. In football it is restricted by Article 15 § 7 of the PZPN Statute, which is not limited to the same division or to majority holdings. Before you sign an investment in a second club, check this provision and the federation's regulations. We show how we handle such matters on our sports law page.
Poland has no statute on sports agents and no uniform agent licensing system: the contract with an agent rests on the Civil Code, and federation regulations add the detail. Freedom of contract (Article 3531), the rules on mandate and services (Article 734 et seq., Article 750) and powers of attorney (Articles 95-109) apply. The law sets no general cap on commission. Article 108 generally prevents an attorney-in-fact from representing both parties to the same transaction, but it does not automatically cover all advice given to two parties to a deal.
A contract with a minor needs the involvement or consent of a legal representative. A person under 13 generally has no capacity to perform legal acts, and a person aged 13 or over has limited capacity (Articles 12-18 of the Civil Code). Where a transaction goes beyond ordinary management of the child's property, guardianship court authorisation may be needed.
In football, the PZPN Football Agent Regulations (Resolution No. VII/116 of the PZPN Executive Board of 8 August 2023) and the FIFA regulations apply. For a player under 18, initial contact should be aimed at arranging a discussion with the parents, and the agent obtains authorisations before starting work. Commission is payable only for the first professional contract and with written parental consent. The agreement may be signed no earlier than six months before the player can sign that contract.
Since 1 January 2024, part of the PZPN regulations has been suspended, following a FIFA decision: the caps on remuneration, the payment rules and deadlines, and the restrictions on dual representation. Do not treat those caps and restrictions as unconditionally applicable in Poland.
The main tool against stadium violence is the court-imposed ban on attending mass events, governed by Article 41b of the Criminal Code and Article 65 et seq. of the Act of 20 March 2009 on the Safety of Mass Events. For the petty offences listed in Article 65(2), committed in connection with a mass sporting event, including a football match, the court must impose a ban of two to six years. These include disturbing public order, damaging property and certain breaches of mass-event safety rules. For specified criminal offences, the ban is mandatory under Article 66: among others, offences against life and health, public safety and public officials, as well as unlawfully entering the event, throwing objects or bringing weapons into the venue.
The court may also require the offender to report to a police station or another designated place during specified events, for six months to three years and no longer than the ban. A ban can also cover football matches played abroad by the Polish national team or Polish clubs.
Separately, a match organiser may impose a club ban for breach of the venue or event regulations, covering its team's matches, for up to two years. Security staff may refuse entry or remove a person who disturbs public order. In the three highest men's divisions, the rules require spectator identification, electronic ticketing and access control, and checks of bans, and a child under 13 may attend only with an adult.
If you organise matches, remember that a club can be disciplined for its supporters' conduct, regardless of the liability of the individuals concerned.
Poland has no separate, comprehensive statute on esports and no separate, comprehensive statutory provisions on eligibility criteria for transgender athletes: in both areas, general law and the regulations of sports organisations decide.
Article 2(1a) of the Sports Act, added in 2017, treats as sport also competition based on intellectual activity aimed at a sporting result, which allows esports to be classified as sport. Esports activity is also subject to the Civil Code, the Labour Code, copyright, tax, consumer and data protection law, and the regulations of tournament organisers and of game publishers, who hold the rights to the games, play a major part. By Order No. 3 of 15 February 2025, the Minister of Digital Affairs set up a working group to prepare regulatory proposals; setting up the group does not mean a draft law or new obligations.
Eligibility criteria for transgender athletes in the women's and men's categories are set by sports federations, taking international rules into account, so they vary by discipline and level. Articles 30 and 32 of the Constitution and Articles 23 and 24 of the Civil Code protect dignity, equal treatment and personal rights, but they do not create such criteria. The chapter gives the example of the World Athletics rules for the women's category, on which the Polish Athletics Association published information in 2025. The debate concerns reconciling equal treatment with fair competition and safety, and takes place mainly around decisions of international federations.
The chapter points to the dispute between Śląsk Wrocław and Wisła Kraków over a Matchweek 24 fixture of the Polish First League in the 2025/2026 season as a case at the intersection of sports law, local government law and EU competition law. On 27 February 2026, Śląsk announced that it would not admit an organised group of visiting supporters, relying on Resolution No. II/85 of the PZPN Executive Board and its own risk assessment.
Wisła replied that the resolution requires particularly justified circumstances and documented grounds, that an exception must be read narrowly and that safety is the organiser's responsibility. On 7 March 2026, Wisła's team did not appear for the match. On 13 March, the PZPN Competitions Committee awarded a 3-0 walkover to Śląsk, and on 16 March the PZPN Disciplinary Committee fined Śląsk PLN 1 million for refusing admission to the supporters. The PZPN Supreme Appeals Committee upheld the fine on 21 May 2026. The practical lesson for a club: one incident can trigger two separate proceedings before different bodies, with an adverse outcome for both sides of the dispute.
Wisła also announced a complaint to the European Commission, because the Municipality of Wrocław is a shareholder in Śląsk and, according to the chapter, gave the club an additional PLN 30 million during the season. In Wisła's view this is selective State aid under Article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The chapter notes that publicly available information does not indicate that the complaint has been submitted.
According to the chapter, public funding of sport remains one of the main open topics. The Act on Municipal Economy allows a municipality to hold shares in a club of significant importance to its development, but gives no strict criteria for that assessment. Questions remain about transparency, the justification for support, the accounting for subsidies, liability for irregularities and the effect on competition. The topic is not currently the subject of legislative action.
Legal position: as described in the chapter published in 2026, whose latest date is 22 May 2026. The rules may change, so check the current position with us before you decide.
Chapter published in: The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides 2026 - Sports Law, Poland (opens in a new tab) (Legalease).
You bring an appeal against a final disciplinary decision of a Polish sports federation to the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the Polish Olympic Committee, within 14 days of service.
This route does not cover the technical rules of the game or doping cases, which the Disciplinary Panel decides. The Tribunal may set the decision aside and refer the case back if evidence has to be taken in its entirety or to a substantial extent.
A disciplinary ruling of the Tribunal can be challenged by a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court for a flagrant violation of the law or manifest injustice. You lodge it through the Tribunal within 30 days of service of the ruling with its reasons.
As a general rule, yes: Polish law imposes no general prohibition on foreign ownership of professional sports clubs and no sport-specific cap on foreign shareholdings.
The transaction may still be subject to general rules on merger control, foreign investment screening and anti-money laundering, and at times on the acquisition of real estate by foreigners. These restrictions are not specific to sport.
Check the competition requirements too. A professional league in team sports admits only joint-stock and limited liability companies, and an Ekstraklasa club must, under the PZPN Club Licensing Manual, be a joint-stock company and disclose its ownership structure.
As a rule, no: Article 15 § 7 of the PZPN Statute does not allow it for a person who is a member of a PZPN-affiliated club or holds shares in one.
That person, natural or legal, may not at the same time be a member, shareholder or equity holder of another club taking part in football competitions, or serve on its governing bodies. The restriction is not limited to the same division or to majority holdings.
The restriction comes from the federation's statute, not from an act of parliament. For an investment in another discipline, check the regulations of the relevant federation.
Yes, if it holds a Polish permit: sponsorship of clubs and competitions by betting operators holding the relevant permit is allowed, including branding on shirts and advertising boards.
The restrictions of the Act of 19 November 2009 on Gambling and sports regulations must be followed. The advertising must not target minors or encourage higher stakes, and it must carry the required notices on risk, the consequences of illegal gambling and the operator's permit.
Distinguish advertising from mere sponsorship information, which Article 29(3) limits to the sponsor's name or another identifying designation. A permit issued in another country does not by itself authorise an operator to offer betting in Poland.
No: the Sports Act amendment does not give a referee that status, but it grants the criminal-law protection afforded to public officials.
The protection applies when the referee performs duties at competitions organised by the entities listed in the Act. Violating bodily integrity, using violence or a threat to influence their duties, and insulting a referee can lead to liability under Articles 222-226 of the Criminal Code.
Criminal liability operates independently of disciplinary liability, so the same incident can lead to proceedings both in court and before the federation.
Related service
We act for clubs, sponsors and organisers on contracts, transfers, sponsorship and disputes, from domestic matters up to CAS in Lausanne. See how we work, or read the full chapter at the publisher.
