International legal conflict over the recognition of the Basque Pelota Federation

The recognition of a sports team to compete as an independent nation is an issue that combines legal, political and sporting aspects. In the case of Euskadi (Basque Country), the possibility of participating internationally has been a recurrent debate in the field of sports law and institutional relations with bodies such as FIFA, UEFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

In this context, the recent admission of the Basque Pelota Federation by the International Basque Pelota Federation (FIPV) has generated controversy with the Spanish Pelota Federation (FEP) and raises a complex precedent about the possibility of the Basque Country achieving wider recognition in other sports.

In order for the Basque Country to be able to compete as an independent nation in international tournaments, it must meet the requirements of sport’s governing bodies. It is in this sense that both FIFA and UEFA, in their statutes, require that federations must represent countries that are recognized as independent states by the international community. This has been the criterion applied in the recent case of Kosovo’s admission in 2016, after achieving recognition by a majority of states and its entry into international organizations.

From this perspective, the Basque Country is not currently an independent state since it is part of Spain, whose constitutional framework does not recognize the possibility of unilateral secession, which complicates the recognition of the Basque Football Federation as a full member of FIFA and UEFA. However, there are non-state associations that participate in international competitions, such as Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland in football, which enjoy a special status historically recognized within the United Kingdom and were founding members of FIFA.

For its part, the IOC has similar criteria to FIFA, since it requires recognition as an independent state to accept a National Olympic Committee (NOC). In 2018, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected Catalonia’s request to create an independent NOC, arguing that it was not a recognized sovereign state. Therefore, if the Basque Country seeks to compete as an independent nation in the Olympic Games, it should first achieve state recognition or a specific exception within the IOC regulations, something that has not been granted to new regions without political independence until now.

The recognition of Euskadi and the acceptance of the Basque Federation by the FIPV as a full member, after the Assembly of December 2024, represents a milestone in sports law and has led the Spanish Pelota Federation to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to request the challenge of this decision. In the face of the disagreement of the Spanish federation, the FIPV warned them that if they do not recognize Euskadi as a member, Spain could be expelled from the international federation, which could set a dangerous precedent.

It should be noted that each international federation has autonomy to define its own affiliation criteria, and while the FIPV has been flexible in this regard, other federations, such as FIFA or the IOC, maintain stricter requirements.

From this perspective, new legal strategies are being opened for the Basque Country to seek recognition in other sports disciplines. In this way, they can seek affiliation in International Federations that are more flexible than FIFA and the IOC, which do not require state recognition. Another alternative may be the organization of official tournaments between teams from regions with similar aspirations, such as Catalonia, Corsica or Greenland, to gain visibility and strengthen their position in sports law. In this way, the Basque Country could promote a global consensus that modifies the regulations of international organizations, so that they allow the affiliation of regions with a differentiated national identity.

Conclusion

From the perspective of sports law, the Basque Country faces significant obstacles to being recognized as an independent nation in international competitions. However, the recognition of the Basque Pelota Federation by the FIPV opens the door to new possibilities in other sports disciplines, because this can be used as a precedent to argue that international federations have the power to admit regional federations without the need for formal state recognition, although its applicability will depend on the position of each governing body and the political and legal pressure that Spain can exert to avoid fragmentation in the sports field.

In short, the debate on the right of the Basque Country to compete internationally is still open and will depend, to a large extent, on the evolution of sports law, the decisions of the courts and the changes in the structure of international sport.