The secretary of the GAA’s Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) has become the first person based in Northern Ireland to be appointed as an arbitrator to the leading international Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Professor Jack Anderson, who lectures in law at Queen’s University Belfast, makes the step up to the world’s supreme court of justice for sport – a court which deals with disputes at the very highest levels of organisations such as Fifa, the IAAF and the International Olympics Committee.

Anderson is widely known for his expertise in the field of match-fixing and has previously worked with Interpol, Fifa, FIFPro and World Rugby

He is a member of a United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime Expert group on combatting match fixing in sport, and his work on sports law is cited frequently in sports arbitration awards globally, as well as in sports-related judicial proceedings. He is also the editor-in-chief of the International Sports Law Journal, the leading periodical in the area.

The current CAS arbitration panel consists of former Supreme Court judges, senior barristers, former Olympians, leading experts in the fields of sports medicine and administration and those with an international reputation in the field of sports dispute resolution and law.

Its headquarters are located in the Swiss region of Lausanne with two other courts in New York and Sydney.

“I am delighted and honoured to have been appointed as arbitrator to the Court of Arbitration for Sport,” said Anderson.

“I look forward to bringing my experience as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and Queen’s University Belfast to this role.”