Danail Angelov appeals against UCI ethics decision in Bulgaria; CAS review ongoing
CAS 2025/A/11716 Danail Angelov v. Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) ARBITRAL AWARD delivered by the COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT sitting in the following composition:
President: Dr Heiner Kahlert, Attorney-at-law, Munich, Germany Arbitrators: Prof. Philippe Sands KC, Professor of Law, London, United Kingdom
Ms Janie Soublière, Attorney-at-law, Beaconsfield, Canada
in the arbitration between
Mr Danail Petrov Angelov, Sofia, Bulgaria Represented by Mr Michael Zhivkov Stankov and Mr Yuri Yuriev Stoykov, Attorneys-at-law, Stankov, Todorov, Hinkov & Spasov, Sofia, Bulgaria
Appellant
and
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), Aigle, Switzerland Represented by Prof. Antonio Rigozzi and Mr Patrick Pithon, Attorneys-at-law, Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, Geneva, Switzerland
Respondent
CAS 2025/A/11716 – Page 2 I. PARTIES 1. Mr Danil Petrov Angelov (the “Appellant” or “Mr Angelov”) held, at the relevant and material time, various administrative positions within the Bulgarian Cycling Federation (the “BCF”), including that of vice-chairman of the BCF Management Board. In addition, he is a co-owner of the cycling club Riders United (“Riders United”) as well as a co-owner of two race event organisers. 2. The Union Cycliste Internationale (the “Respondent” or the “UCI”) is the world governing body for the sport of cycling, recognized as such by the International Olympic Committee. The UCI is a non-profit association established under Swiss law with its seat in Aigle, Switzerland. The BCF is a member federation of the UCI. 3. The Appellant and the Respondent are jointly referred to as the “Parties”. II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. Introduction 4. The present appeal was brought by Mr Angelov against a disciplinary decision rendered on 5 August 2025 (the “Decision”) by the UCI Ethics Commission. 5. Below is a summary of the relevant facts based on the Parties’ submissions (this term includes oral pleadings and evidence adduced). Additional facts may be set out in connection with the legal discussion that follows. While the Panel has considered all facts transpiring from the Parties’ submissions, it refers in this award (the “Award”) only to the facts it considers necessary to explain its reasoning. B. The 2024 National Downhill Championship 6. During the Bulgarian National Downhill Championship held in Chapelare on 13/14 July 2024 (the “2024 DH Championship”), the start list for the junior category was prepared by the Chief Commissaire at that event, Mr Asen Radev Tamahkyarov (“Mr Tamahkyarov”). However, during a break, while Mr Tamahkyarov was absent, the start list was altered. After Mr Tamahkyarov’s attention was drawn to the issue, he reversed the alterations. The Appellant’s role, if any, in the alteration of the start list is disputed. C. Events involving Mr Georgiev and filing of complaints to the UCI Ethics Commission 7. In early June 2024, Mr Georgi Georgiev (“Mr Georgiev”), chairman of the cycling club Kurbel (“Kurbel”) and a UCI/BCF-licensed Commissaire, reported to the BCF Control Board what he considered to be an unlawful attempt by the Appellant to amend provisions of the BCF regulations for mountain bike (“MTB”) competitions.
CAS 2025/A/11716 – Page 3 8. On 26 June 2024, the Appellant, using an email address of one of his companies through which he organizes cycling events, wrote to Mr Dobri Dobrev (“Mr Dobrev”), then chairman of the BCF Commissaire Commission, as follows: “In view of the events that have occurred, please consider replacing Mr. Georgiev as the Chief Judge of the competitions in which I participate in the organization, namely Chepelare downhill and Pamporovo Bike Fest. I believe that there is a biased attitude towards me on the part of Mr. Georgiev and in the situation that has arisen I fear incorrect actions on his part.”1 9. On 1 July 2024, Mr Georgiev received an email from Mr Dobrev as follows: “Unfortunately, your preliminary appointments as a judge for the following competitions have been cancelled: [three competitions, including Chepelare downhill and Pamporovo Bike Fest] The situation of conflict and personal relationships between you and Daniel Angelov (organizer of the competitions), suggests the possibility of possible difficulties in communication between you. In order to ensure a smooth and trouble-free run of the above-mentioned events, the judging will be entrusted to other colleagues.” 10. On 25 September 2024, Mr Dobrev sent an email to Mr Georgiev and the BCF administration, referring to Mr Georgiev as “incompetent and not useful for cycling”. 11. On 9 October 2024, Mr Georgiev filed a complaint against the Appellant to the UCI Ethics Commission, alleging several violations of, inter alia, the UCI Code of Ethics (the “CoE”). 12. On 14 October 2024, upon request by the President of the European Cycling Union, Mr Dragomir Kouzov (“Mr Kouzov”), former chairman and then member of the BCF Management Board, provided additional information in support of Mr Georgiev’s complaint. 13. On 6 November 2024, Mr Tamahkyarov filed a complaint through the UCI SpeakUp platform against several persons, including the Appellant, for manipulation of competitions, including manipulation of the start list at the 2024 DH Championship. 14. On 13 November 2024, Mr Dobrev and Ms Any Petrova (“Ms Petrova”), then deputy chairwoman of the BCF Commissaire Commission, jointly filed a complaint to the UCI Ethics Commission against several individuals, including the Appellant, for interference in the operations of the BCF Commissaire Commission, undue pressure, and regulatory violations.
1 All citations from BCF documents and from correspondence between BCF officials are translations from Bulgarian, as submitted by the Parties in this arbitration.
CAS 2025/A/11716 – Page 4 15. On 14 November 2024, Mr Georgiev sent an email to the BCF Management Board, copying BCF member clubs, which reads as follows in its relevant part: “While you cling to the Management Board like drowning men clinging to a straw, while Your only activity is in the name of staying in power longer, while a guy with a neat hairstyle, a well-arranged smile, and a cow-like smack has usurped everything in mountain biking, while another one of you yells and threatens judges during a competition, while the Management Board decides to pay the personal fines of its chairman, at the same time, gentlemen of the Management Board, parallel organizations are being created, directly related to cycling and largely taking over the function of the BCF. While we, the clubs, members of the BCF, are busy defending our rights from you, we have no time left for our actual work, and other organizations will replace us. If we continue like this, in a few years the BFC will remain an unnecessary organization! RESIGN IMMEDIATELY, GET OUT OF THE FEDERATION!!!“ 16. Further to the above-mentioned complaints filed by Mr Georgiev, Mr Tamahkyarov, Mr Dobrev and Ms Petrova, the UCI Ethics Commission notified the Appellant on 19 November 2024 that a formal investigation had been opened against him for possible breaches of several provisions of the CoE. 17. On or before 23 December 2024, Mr Georgiev collected signatures from BCF member clubs requesting that the BCF Management Board convene an extraordinary BCF General Assembly to elect a new BCF Management Board. 18. At some point between 23 and 29 January 2025, after the BCF Management Board had failed to initiate an extraordinary BCF General Assembly as requested, Kurbel and other clubs filed an application to the Sofia City Court seeking an order on the holding of an extraordinary BCF General Assembly (the application was eventually upheld on 13 March 2025 and the Assembly was scheduled for 25 May 2025). D. BCF Management Board Meeting on 5 February 2025 19. On 5 February 2025, a meeting of the BCF Management Board was held. The official minutes of the meeting state that “Dragomir Kouzov has valid health reasons and is abroad and has notified that he can only participate partially and remotely.” Moreover, the minutes record that, among other things, the BCF Management Board took the following resolutions:
Mr Georgiev’s club, Kurbel, was expelled from the BCF, while Mr Georgiev was banned for lifetime from cycling-related activities, for alleged “failure to comply with the obligations imposed by the Articles of Association, as well as systematic violation of the Articles of Association of the BFC, damage to the prestige and interests of the BFC, insults and slander.”
CAS 2025/A/11716 – Page 5
Ms Petrova was fined with BGN 2,000 and received a two-year suspension of her license as a Commissaire, due to alleged breaches of her duties as Technical Secretary of the BCF (“withdrawal of access to [BCF] management systems and documents with the aim of sabotaging the work of the [BCF], breach of confidentiality of information, damage to the prestige of the [BCF] and threat to the financing of the [BCF] by its sponsors, deliberate non-payment of fees owed to judges”), and for allegedly having requested money from the BCF to compensate for damage that she herself had caused.
Mr Dobrev was fined with BGN 1,000 and received a two-year suspension of his license as a Commissaire (BGN 500 and a one-year suspension if he apologized), due to alleged “interference and sabotage of the work of the BFC; personal insults and slander against the management of the BFC and cycling competitors; unfounded financial claims against the BFC; deliberately delaying the sharing of competition reports and failing to monitor the sending of competition reports in his capacity as chairman of the RSC”.
A proposal was to be made to the next BCF General Assembly to remove Mr Kouzov from his position as a BCF Management Board member, mainly due to his allegedly continuous absence from meetings of the BCF Management Board. 20. According to the minutes, the Appellant voted in favour of each of the above resolutions. The minutes also reflect that it was the Appellant, together with two other members, who proposed the lifetime ban against Mr Georgiev. E. BCF Management Board Meeting on 19 March 2025 21. On 19 March 2025, the BCF Management Board held another meeting. After resignation of its then chairwoman, the BCF Management Board decided, among other things, to dissolve the BCF Disciplinary Committee. 22. On 26 March 2025, Mr Tamahkyarov filed a further complaint to the UCI Ethics Commission against several individuals, including the Appellant, alleging the wrongful dissolution of the BCF Disciplinary Committee, in which Mr Tamahkyarov had been member. F. BCF Management Board Meeting on 23 May 2025 23. At a further meeting held on 23 May 2025, the BCF Management Board reviewed a complaint filed against Mr Tamahkyarov by Mr Alexander Hadzhiev, a board member of the Appellant’s club Riders United. The complaint related to Mr Tamahkyarov’s alleged failure to timely submit a report as Chief Commissaire of the race “The Call of the Wild DH 2024”, which had been staged on 2/3 November 2024. According to the official minutes of the meeting, the BCF Management Board resolved to impose a (unspecified) sanction on Mr Tamahkyarov, with the Appellant voting in favour.
CAS 2025/A/11716 – Page 6 24. On an unspecified date thereafter, Mr Tamahkyarov received an email from the BCF Commissaire Commission informing him that he had been suspended for three months as a Commissaire for failing to submit the above-mentioned report in a timely manner. G. BCF General Assembly on 30 June 2025 25. At the BCF General Assembly held on 30 June 2025, a vote was taken on an “appeal” against the BCF Management Board’s decision