UNILAG Sports Law Club to Educate Students on Legal Issues in Sports

By Oluwatoyin Adewale, Dorcas Egunjobi, Williams Afesumeh, Musa Mohammed and  Boluwatife Adeniran

In Nigeria, many talented athletes rise with big dreams but fall too early. Their careers often end not because of injuries or poor performance, but because they do not understand the legal side of the sports world. Contract disputes, unfair deals, sponsorship problems, image rights issues, and weak regulations have pushed several promising athletes off their path long before their peak.

This growing problem is what the UNILAG Sports Law Club wants to solve. The club, created by students from the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos, aims to teach athletes and young sports enthusiasts the legal rules that guide the sports industry. Their belief is simple: a knowledgeable athlete is a protected athlete.

Many people talk about football, athletics, or basketball only from what happens on the field. But the club’s president, Ewaoluwagbemiga Praise, said sports go far beyond that. He explained that there is a legal, business, and even medical side to every athlete’s career. Without understanding these areas, a player can easily become a victim of exploitation.

Praise’s interest in sports law came from his love for both sports and legal studies. He wanted to connect what he learned in class with the world he truly enjoyed. His discovery that sports law existed opened his eyes to how much Nigeria needed it. For him, the club was the perfect way to bring awareness to an ignored but important area of sports development.

The club’s vice president, Oluwatoyin Salami, shared a similar story, noting that she first encountered sports law during a sports arbitration competition in her penultimate year. That experience made her realise that Nigeria was far behind in the practice of sports law. So when the idea of forming the club came up, she quickly joined, seeing it as a chance to help bridge the gap.

Together with their founding members, they built a platform that now teaches the basics of sports contracts, transfer rules, dispute resolution, anti-doping policies, and athlete welfare. These lessons serve as a kind of insurance for athletes, helping them avoid the painful mistakes many before them have made.