Rwego Ngarambe is living his dream as a sports lawyer, and is one of the few Rwandans in the profession. He is currently working with Rwanda Basketball Federation. His love for basketball stirred him to chase a course in sports law.

A sports lawyer, also known as a sports law attorney, is a certified legal professional representing athletes, industry boards, teams, leagues, and other sports organisations.

From early childhood, Ngarambe was surrounded by sports facilities and witnessed sports events such as interschool championships, first division teams, for instance, the former "Les Citadins”, while practicing their sessions in front of his parents’ home.

"Our house in Kimihurura was just near a soccer pitch and field area, where I could access basketball, volleyball, and netball playgrounds. So I grew up around all kinds of sports, but basketball was always my favourite of all,” he says.

The 27-year-old says that in university, he participated in basketball games in France with La Roche Vendée Basket Club, a period he lives to remember. It is during those years that Ngarambe stumbled across a documentary about French basketball agent Bouna Ndiaye, whose drive and vision enthused him to combine law and sports. 

Rwego Ngarambe, a sports lawyer.

That’s how he ended up in Madrid, at Instituto Superior de Derecho y Economia (ISDE), to pursue a Master’s degree in International Sports Law, he graduated last year. 

Sports law in Rwanda

Ngarambe notes that in Rwanda’s sports industry, there are lawyers who serve, mainly when it comes to contract negotiations and dispute resolutions, but there are still some untapped areas of sports law that they haven’t yet explored, yet the athletes and country benefit from them as much as possible.

"There are quite a number of endorsement deals that we can get for our players, intellectual property, image rights, and so many other things—there are lots of opportunities in this field. We gain more exposure and as we travel all over the world, we realise that there are things that must be done differently in our sports industry if we really want to professionalise this industry.

"One of the ways to do it is to learn about sports law, sports business, and sports governance. Over the past 15 years, we have seen the emergence of sports technology companies. Whoever you are and whatever field you’re in, there is a place for you in sports, especially here at home, we have a multi-billionaire industry to build,” he says. 

Ngarambe is looking forward to persuading more people to gain interest and partake in the profession, making sure that they are aware of the existence of sports law.

He says that some of the sports lawyers he has met have exposed him to another side of the profession that he was clueless about, some end up becoming confidants and mentors for all the big personalities in sports, some go as far as saving their clients’ marriages, help them in educating their children, or get them out of depression and hard times.

Ngarambe was inspired by a documentary about French basketball agent Bouna Ndiaye.

He says that it goes from the usual professional relations to some undocumented work done behind the scenes, like saving children from being trafficked from poor countries with the promise of turning them into professional players in Europe, where some end up roaming the streets, without any legal documents and protection.

Way forward 

The sports lawyer aims at using his skills and expertise to serve people involved in the sports industry, especially athletes. He notes that his first contribution will be to excel in what he does to inspire others to follow the same path.

He believes that there are many institutions he can work with to ensure that Rwandans are given opportunities to learn and network with those in the global sports industry.

Ngarambe anticipates involving the private sector, for example, to provide scholarships to the most deserving young lawyers out there, even if it’s about five lawyers every year in this field.

For him, this would take over the regional market, and the whole continent and beyond, and he is looking forward to finding entities to partner with and bring this project to life. 

"I would like to call upon Rwandans who are working in some prestigious sports entities such as the National Basketball Association-NBA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association-FIFA to lend a hand in building our sports industry. We must try and establish an industry that reflects our values and a suitable sports model,” Ngarambe says.

He also says that he hopes to search for universities interested in starting these programmes in their faculties to make sure that five years from now, as Rwanda is thriving to become a sports event destination, we also become a hub for sports-related studies, such as sports law.

Ngarambe points out that Rwanda requires local sports lawyers because the global sports industry is expected to be worth 600 billion dollars by 2025 and approximately one trillion dollars by 2030. 

Sports lawyers are some of the key people making this industry grow to this extent, a thing that should motivate Rwandans to get into the field and exhaust all the opportunities available, he adds.

Challenges

He says that sports is still perceived as a ‘leisure activity’ and not as a real sector that can contribute to the country’s economy and development. But he has no doubt that he is yet to persuade both the public and private organisations to embark on the journey as well.