Who We Are
ASLPC is an independent African research, policy and knowledge institution working at the intersection of sports law, governance, policy and sport for development.
An independent African institution, built for a specific moment
The African Sports Law and Policy Centre (ASLPC) is an independent, Uganda-based African institution dedicated to research, policy development and professional practice in sports law, governance, integrity, institutional reform, professionalisation and sport for development. The Centre generates knowledge, promotes stakeholder awareness and supports evidence-based reforms aimed at strengthening Africa's sports sector.
ASLPC is not a university department, law firm, sports federation or government agency. It maintains its own institutional identity, governance, research agenda, publications and intellectual independence. While based in Uganda, the Centre is designed to work across Africa and to respond flexibly to emerging developments and challenges within the sports industry.
Uganda's National Sports Act, 2023 established, for the first time, a comprehensive statutory framework for sports administration, discipline and regulation in the country. That framework created the legal architecture; it did not create the institutions, professionals and evidence base required to make it work in practice a gap that recurs across the continent in governance capacity, athlete protection, sports commercialisation, integrity systems and the use of sport for development. ASLPC exists to close it.
The Centre combines six functions that are typically dispersed across separate institutions elsewhere: a research institution, a policy think tank, a sports governance resource centre, a professional training academy, an athlete rights platform and a sport for development institution. It begins with a firm base in Uganda and East Africa and will build progressively toward a continental and international footprint.
Core disciplines
Sports law, sports governance, sports policy, sport for development.
Founding instrument
Uganda's National Sports Act, 2023, and comparable regional regulatory frameworks.
Geographical scope
ASLPC begins with a firm base in Uganda and East Africa, where its founding research, partnerships and programming are concentrated, before progressively developing an African and international footprint through research networks, comparative publications, continental convenings and selective regional partnerships.
Structure
Four technical divisions, a standing set of cross-cutting programmes, and the ASLPC Academy. See Institutional Structure.
The gap ASLPC addresses
Africa's sports industry has been valued at roughly US$12–15 billion and is projected to grow at close to 8 percent annually, yet it contributes only a fraction of the share of GDP recorded in more mature sporting economies held back in significant part by governance weaknesses, thin regulatory capacity and limited investment-ready institutions. No single institution currently combines rigorous legal research, policy translation, governance support, professional training and sport-for-development practice under one roof.
Universities
Teach sports law as a subject but rarely operate as standing research-to-policy institutions.
Law firms
Handle sports disputes and transactions but do not generate public research or convene the sector.
Federations and government agencies
Regulate sport but are rarely positioned to produce independent, evidence-based analysis of their own governance.
Conventional think tanks
Address public policy broadly but seldom develop the sport-specific expertise that regulatory reform, athlete protection and sports commercialisation now require.
ASLPC is designed to sit deliberately in the space between these institutions, connecting academic research with practical policy, legal practice, sports administration and community development in a single, coordinated institution.
Stakeholders and beneficiaries
Athletes
Legal protection, image-rights guidance, safeguarding and a voice in governance and policy processes.
Coaches and administrators
Practical training and governance tools through the ASLPC Academy.
Federations and clubs
Governance standards, self-assessment tools and integrity support.
Government agencies and policymakers
Independent, evidence-based policy and legislative analysis.
Lawyers, judges and dispute-resolution professionals
Specialised research, training and a professional community of practice.
Academics and students
A research repository, publication platform and structured research-training pipeline.
Sports businesses and sponsors
Commercial and intellectual-property research supporting sports commercialisation.
Media organisations
Credible, independent analysis and data on the sports sector.
Young people, women and girls, and persons with disabilities
Targeted sport-for-development programming and inclusion research.
Communities
Evidence-based sport-for-development interventions addressing local social and economic priorities.