CAS Case Digest · Verified against the full award text

CAS 2025/A/11918 — Oliver Koch Hansen v. Union Internationale Motonautique

"Koch Hansen" · CAS dismissed an Aquabike rider's appeal against a 25-second time penalty because the European Championship title-holder was not named as a respondent.

What happened in Koch Hansen

Oliver Koch Hansen, a Danish professional Aquabike rider, was penalised 25 seconds in Moto 3 of the 2025 UIM Aquabike Grand Prix of Hungary for failing to maintain his lane in 'Hole Shot 1' under Rule 305.04 of the UIM Aquabike Rulebook. The penalty demoted him from first to second in that race, costing him three points. After the final grand prix of the 2025 UIM Aquabike European Championship in Vichy, France, Mickael Poret finished first overall with 258 points, two points ahead of Koch Hansen on 256. Koch Hansen protested, lost before the Protest Judge, appealed to the UIM International Court of Appeal (ICA), and lost again on 31 October 2025. He then appealed to CAS on 6 November 2025, seeking annulment of the penalty and an order that UIM award him the European Championship title. CAS dismissed the appeal on the threshold issue of standing to be sued: because granting the full relief sought would directly revoke Poret's European Championship title, Poret was a necessary respondent whose legal rights would be directly altered. Koch Hansen's failure to name Poret as a respondent was fatal. The case matters because it clarifies when a competitor whose title would be stripped must be joined as a respondent in a CAS vertical dispute, distinguishing mere indirect sporting interests from direct legal-status effects.

Procedural history of CAS 2025/A/11918

On 3 August 2025, a Race Direction penalty of 25 seconds was imposed on Koch Hansen in Moto 3 of the Grand Prix of Hungary under Rule 310.01.04 of the Rulebook. The Protest Judge rejected his same-day protest. Koch Hansen filed a UIM Appeal Notice at 23:24 on 3 August 2025 and an appeal brief on 5 August 2025. After written exchanges and an online hearing on 12 September 2025, the ICA issued a verdict on 1 October 2025 rejecting the appeal, followed by a reasoned decision on 31 October 2025 confirming the 25-second penalty and dismissing the appeal with all consequences on the final championship rankings. Koch Hansen filed his CAS Statement of Appeal on 6 November 2025, within the seven-day limit prescribed by Rule 409.03 of the Rulebook. A virtual CAS hearing was held on 10 February 2026, with post-hearing briefs filed on 25 February 2026.

Key holdings in CAS 2025/A/11918

• A third party whose European Championship title would be directly revoked by the granting of relief must be named as a respondent in CAS appeal proceedings, not merely notified.
• Standing to be sued is a matter of substantive law under Swiss law, and its absence leads to dismissal of the claim on the merits rather than a finding of inadmissibility.
• The Appellant had sufficient legal interest to bring the appeal because the Appealed Decision rejecting his protest against the 25-second penalty ultimately affected his overall ranking in the European Championship.
• Prayers for relief seeking adjustment of overall championship standings were already at least implicitly included in the Statement of Appeal and Appeal Brief, making a formal amendment under Article R56(1) of the CAS Code unnecessary.
• Where UIM rules (Rules 409.01 and 409.02) are silent on naming third parties as respondents, Swiss law applies subsidiarily to determine whether a competitor is sufficiently directly affected to require joinder.

How the CAS panel reasoned

The Panel applied a spectrum analysis drawn from CAS jurisprudence to determine whether Mickael Poret was so directly affected by the relief sought that he had to be named as a respondent. The Panel distinguished cases where third parties have only an indirect sporting or economic interest (e.g., CAS 2016/A/4642, where Nagaworld FC's interest but not its legal right was affected) from cases where the relief sought would directly alter a third party's legal status (e.g., CAS 2011/A/2654, where Burkina Faso's match results and qualification rights were directly at stake). The Panel found that revoking Poret's European Championship title — already obtained — fell squarely in the latter category: it was not a mere indirect effect but a direct alteration of his legal position. The Panel rejected the Appellant's argument that Poret's interest was merely indirect and convergent with the Respondent's, noting that Poret had a right to be heard to defend his own title. Because Rules 409.01 and 409.02 were silent on the point, Swiss law applied subsidiarily. Under Swiss law, absence of standing to be sued is a substantive defect requiring dismissal. The Panel therefore dismissed the appeal without reaching the merits of the time penalty.

Why Koch Hansen matters in CAS jurisprudence

This award clarifies the boundary between indirect sporting interest and direct legal-status effect in CAS vertical disputes. It establishes that where annulling a penalty would strip an absent competitor of an already-awarded championship title, that competitor is a necessary respondent whose omission is fatal to the appeal. The Panel's spectrum analysis — anchored in CAS 2011/A/2654 and CAS 2016/A/4642 — provides practitioners with a framework for assessing joinder obligations before filing CAS appeals in results-correction cases.

Cases cited in this award

CAS 2016/A/4602 CAS 2011/A/2654 CAS 2016/A/4642 CAS 2024/A/11091 CAS 2021/A/8119 CAS 2021/A/8186

Frequently asked questions about Koch Hansen

Why was Koch Hansen's CAS appeal dismissed if the time penalty was the real issue?

The Panel dismissed the appeal on a threshold standing issue before reaching the merits of the penalty. Because Koch Hansen sought not only annulment of the 25-second penalty but also an order that UIM award him the 2025 European Championship title, the Panel found that Mickael Poret — who held that title with 258 points to Koch Hansen's 256 — would have his legal status directly altered by any such relief. Under Swiss law, which applied subsidiarily, absence of standing to be sued is a substantive defect requiring dismissal, and Koch Hansen's failure to name Poret as a respondent was therefore fatal to the entire appeal.

Did Koch Hansen have to name Mickael Poret as a respondent in the CAS appeal?

Yes, according to the Panel. Rules 409.01 and 409.02 of the UIM Aquabike Rulebook were silent on naming third parties, so Swiss law applied. The Panel held that revoking Poret's European Championship title — already obtained — directly altered his legal position, placing the case at the end of the CAS jurisprudential spectrum where joinder is mandatory. The Panel distinguished this from cases like CAS 2016/A/4642 (Phnom Penh Crown FC), where the absent club had only an interest, not a legal right, that would be affected.

What was the two-point margin that made the 25-second penalty so significant in Koch Hansen?

The 25-second penalty in Moto 3 of the Grand Prix of Hungary demoted Koch Hansen from first to second place, costing him three points (22 instead of 25) and simultaneously promoting Poret from third to first, gaining Poret five extra points in the race. After the final grand prix in Vichy, France, Poret finished the 2025 UIM Aquabike European Championship with 258 points and Koch Hansen with 256 points — a margin of exactly two points — making the six-point swing from the penalty outcome-determinative for the championship.

Can a CAS panel review a field-of-play decision like a time penalty in Aquabike racing?

The Panel noted that Article R57(1) of the CAS Code gives it full power to review facts and law de novo, but it also acknowledged the Respondent's argument that the 25-second penalty might qualify as a field-of-play decision, citing CAS 2021/A/8119 and CAS 2021/A/8186. However, because the appeal was dismissed on the standing issue, the Panel expressly declined to rule on whether the field-of-play doctrine would have limited its review of the penalty.

Topics: Transfers, agents, TPO & sell-on clauses at CAS

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