Litsan Chong grew up watching Premier League football games with her family, some of whom were die-hard fans. But she never envisioned she would one day represent football clubs in proceedings at FIFA and CAS.
FIFA refers to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football), the beautiful game’s worldwide governing body.
CAS refers to the Switzerland-headquartered Court of Arbitration for Sport, which FIFA recognises to resolve disputes between FIFA, member associations, confederations, leagues, clubs, players, officials, intermediaries and licensed match agents.
Litsan was just a sport-loving law student at the UK’s University of Surrey. “I didn’t even know sports arbitration was a thing when I was studying law in the UK,” she says.
That is, until she started watching live games in stadiums. It was “a different feeling and vibe” seeing athletes in real life. “I realised how much I truly loved the game then,” she says.
No career path is linear — and certainly not Litsan’s route to practising football law.
After Surrey, Chong spent a year in France learning French, then completed a Master of Laws in International and European law at Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, an internship in Paris, bar school in London, then chambering and two years in practice back home in Malaysia.
Then, she took a detour to Thailand, one that would ultimately change her life.
About Litsan Chong
Nationality: Malaysian
Current residence: Thailand
Programme: Master of Laws (LLM), International and European Law
University: University of Surrey (LLB), Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 (LLM)
Occupation: Founder of Gameplan Legal
The following interview has been edited for clarity.
What made you leave a good law firm job to practise football law?
It happened by chance. I was lucky to have worked with a French lawyer in Bangkok who used to be a football agent.
At that time, he needed someone who really understood arbitration because he wasn’t an expert in that area. He had a football case and asked me to work on it together. That was my first football arbitration case.
Since then, we have worked together many times on a project basis, mainly on sports arbitration disputes. From there, I became even more interested in this area because I love sports in general, and arbitration has always been my area of practice.
I was very lucky to work in a field that brought both of my passions together. So that’s how it started — really by chance.
Tell us more Gameplan Legal. Why did you start this firm and who are your clients?
I founded Gameplan Legal because I saw a gap in the market, especially in Southeast Asia. The sport is growing, and the league is becoming more professional, with more foreign players coming to play in Thailand and across the region.
Over the years, demand has increased, leading to more disputes requiring legal support and more important contracts being signed in the league. Those stakeholders really need legal assistance. Apart from us, there is no other firm in Thailand or Southeast Asia that specialises in this area.
Why did you choose to build the firm in Bangkok?
I moved to Bangkok nearly nine years ago for an arbitration role. At first, I planned to stay for just three months to see if I liked living here. But one opportunity led to another, and Thailand soon became home.
Looking back, the move came at the right time. Bangkok has since grown into a strategic hub for the sports industry, attracting major international sporting events, including Formula 1 in the near future.
Being based in Bangkok has allowed me to contribute to the industry’s growth and expand my practice in sports law.
How do you convince clubs, players, and agents they need specialist legal advice?
It is very hard, and I knew that when I started. Most clubs, players, and agents simply don’t think they need legal advice before entering into a contractual relationship.
It’s still quite the Wild West here — people sign first and ask questions later. They come to me once there’s already a problem, which is when I have the fewest options left.
So a lot of what I do is awareness-building: seminars, events, sitting down with club owners, the FA, players and agents to explain their rights and responsibilities under the law, and why a football lawyer is worth having before the dispute rather than after it.
Here, some clubs are very professional, especially the top five to 10 in the first league. However, the second and third leagues do not appear to operate at the same professional level, which also creates more opportunities for us.
Recently, the Thai league changed its rules to allow clubs to register up to 10 foreign players, up from the previous limit of five. It’s the single biggest change to our market since I started.
That means more foreign players from around the world will come and play in the league, allowing us to provide our services.
What kind of services do you offer at Gameplan Legal to foreign and local players?
We advise players on their contracts, which are employment agreements for professional footballers. These cover key issues such as salary, bonuses, termination clauses, and image rights.
Legal support may not always feel necessary on a smaller contract, but we still recommend it. In the Thai league, many players sign high-value agreements that can materially affect their careers, so it’s worth getting advice before signing.
We also advise agents on their agreements with clubs and on managing their relationships with players, which, since FIFA reintroduced agent licensing, has become a more regulated area than it was.
On the club side, we work on player registration and transfer documentation, and we act in disputes — before national dispute resolution bodies, before FIFA, and on appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
