By Melody Gross 
The Supreme Administrative Court (STA) has confirmed that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAD) is not competent to hear Joao Balenha (Sporting)’s appeal in last season’s fifth yellow card case.
In accordance with the judgment BOLA had access to today, the STA unanimously determined that this appellate body lacked jurisdiction in the case, as it was a decision based on rules of a technical or disciplinary nature, arising from the Laws of the Game, disciplinary and competition regulations.
The STA analyzed the appeal filed by Palhinha, which admits that it depends on the interpretation of whether these are “issues arising from the application of technical and disciplinary rules directly related to the practice of sports competition, also called jurisprudence and doctrine, as purely mathematical issues. Therefore, sports issues must be Strict are those whose basis and original rules are of a technical or disciplinary nature, arising from the application of the Laws of the Game, the Regulations and Rules of the Organization of the Contests in question.”
This higher body in the hierarchy of the administrative and tax courts, and the most recent case of appeal, recognized that “purely mathematical matters fall outside the jurisdiction of the TAD, as they have nothing to do with material mathematical decisions”.
In its decision, the Counter-Terrorism Service upheld “the general allegation of unconstitutionality of sanctions in summary proceedings, alleging that the exercise of the right of defense” was not guaranteed.
A lawsuit is now contradicted by the STA, because “this action relates solely to the invalidity of the disciplinary decision for sanctions because of its right to a prior hearing, as a fundamental right.”
“On the one hand, the penalty was applied automatically due to the accumulation of cards, and on the other hand, and most importantly, even if such a breach occurred, knowledge of it is ultimately for the technical/mathematical issue, and stems from, which was already considered to be an anti-law Terrorism has no jurisdiction to make a decision,” STA said.