Jan F. Orth

Presiding Judge at the Regional Court of Cologne, Honorary Professor of Sports Law at the University of Cologne and Managing Editor of the Zeitschrift für Sport und Recht.

Welcome to my website. Most of its content is in German; this page gives an overview in English.

• JudiciaryChair of a criminal chamber at the Regional Court of Cologne (Landgericht Köln). Judge in Cologne since 2003, in civil and criminal chambers; press spokesperson of the court for criminal matters from 2017 to 2023; seconded to the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2013 to 2016.
• AcademiaHonorary Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Cologne and Managing Director of its Sports Law Research Centre (Forschungsstelle Sportrecht); acting professor of criminal law and sports law from 2023 to 2025. Teaching also in the LL.M. programme in Sports Law at the University of Bayreuth and at the German Judicial Academy.
• SportAssociate judge at the Federal Court of the German Football Association (DFB), member of the Trust Committee of the Handball-Bundesliga and of the Disciplinary Board of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), arbitrator at the German Court of Arbitration for Sport (DIS).
• PublishingCo-editor and Managing Editor of SpuRt, the German journal of sport and law published by C.H. Beck, since 2017.
• EducationLaw studies and doctorate at the University of Cologne, with a thesis on disciplinary sanctions in football; LL.M., The University of Texas School of Law, 2012.

Curriculum vitae and selected publications · Contact · Site notice and privacy