Marco Akol Deng
Secretary General, South Sudan Athletics Federation
Sport and law are more intertwined than most people realise. Every athlete contract, every federation constitution, every anti-doping regulation, every dispute resolution process — all of it rests on legal foundations. When those foundations are weak or absent, athletes suffer and institutions fail.
In South Sudan, we are in the process of building those foundations. As both an advocate and a sports administrator, I occupy an unusual position: I see the legal gaps from both sides. I know what a well-drafted federation constitution looks like, and I know what happens when one does not exist.
Through Akol for Legal Services, I have worked with sports organisations to develop governance documents, advise on athlete agreements, and navigate the intersection of national law and international sports regulations. This work is unglamorous but essential.
One area that demands urgent attention is athlete protection. Young athletes in South Sudan — particularly those in the Kids' Athletics programmes — need clear frameworks that protect their welfare, ensure fair selection processes, and give them recourse when things go wrong. We are working to put those frameworks in place.
The development of sport in South Sudan will ultimately depend on the strength of its legal and institutional infrastructure. Getting the law right is not a bureaucratic exercise — it is an act of care for the athletes and communities we serve.