Manchester Metropolitan University

LLM International Sports Law and Governance

Course information

From the Olympic Games to your local community club, sport is a powerful global force, and law is central to how it’s played, governed, and evolves. From concussion lawsuits to transfer rules, human rights issues to breakaway leagues, legal frameworks shape every level of the game.

This course dives deep into how law drives and regulates modern sport across national, international, and transnational levels. You’ll explore how legal systems impact athletes, clubs, competitions, governing bodies, and global organisations.

You'll study three core modules:

Sports Law and Regulation: Learn about the development of sports and Olympic law, and how global organisations interact within the legal landscape.

Sports Law and Business: Examine the legal side of sports business, including high-profile cases like Bosman and the European Super League.

Sport and Human Rights: Explore how frameworks like the Olympic Charter and UN Guiding Principles apply to sport’s human rights responsibilities.

You can further tailor your learning through optional modules focused on emerging and sector-specific issues like sports mega events and children’s rights.

Outside the classroom, you’ll benefit from a rich co-curricular programme. You’ll be able to attend masterclasses with leading sports lawyers and policymakers, access weekly lectures run by the Institute of Sport, and have the opportunity to put your skills into practice through mooting competitions such as the Sports Law Arbitration Moot.

Year 1

You’ll study three core modules, one optional module, and two research modules, plus your dissertation. You'll be taught through a combination of workshops, case studies, and a range of online resources like podcasts, short lectures, and readings.

Your learning is established by modules that provide you with essential research skills to ensure you can perform to the best of your ability in your assessments. All assessments are coursework-based.

You’ll be taught by our team of specialist experts who are all either active researchers in their field or are involved with major sporting organisations around the world. Our colleagues from the Sport Policy Unit will also help you understand wider areas of sport, such as sports economics and sports marketing.

Beyond the core curriculum, you can also engage in extracurricular activities such as the Rise programme, which provides you with opportunities to undertake additional training and qualifications, such as carbon literacy training and Microsoft and Adobe certifications.

Core modules

• Sports Law and Regulation
• Sport and Human Rights
• Research Skills
• Sports Law and Business
• Research Design
• Advanced Independent Study

Option modules

• Contemporary Issues in Sports Mega Events
• Safeguarding, Gender Equity and Children's Rights

This course opens doors to a vast range of career opportunities in sport and law.

If you have a legal background, you could pursue roles such as a general counsel for a sports organisation or a club, or aim for a more rounded, leadership position such as an association president.

For those from a non-legal background, you’ll gain a solid understanding of legal and regulatory frameworks, enabling you to work alongside legal teams within international federations or national governing bodies to address complex issues.

Already working in sport? This course will strengthen your legal knowledge, boost your confidence of how the law operates in sport, and prepare you to step into more senior or strategic roles.

Alternatively, if you’re interested in academia, then this course lays the essential foundation for pursuing your own cutting-edge research in international sports law and governance.

Wherever your ambitions lie, you’ll graduate ready to shape the future of sport.

Study

• Full-time 20% lectures, seminars or similar; 0% placement; 80% independent study

Assessment

• Full-time 100% coursework; 0% practical; 0% examination