Issue I-2014

ISSN 2039-0416

European Sports Law
and Policy Bulletin
REGULATINGEMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPSIN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Michele Colucci and Frank Hendrickx (eds.)

SPORTS LAW AND POLICY CENTRE

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REGULATING EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPSIN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Michele Colucci and Frank Hendrickx (eds.)
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EmailCONTENTS

NOTE ON THE AUTHORS .................................................................... 11
INTRODUCTION
by Michele Colucci and Frank Hendrickx…......................................... 15

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AT NATIONAL LEVEL:
ARGENTINA
by Javier H. Delfino............................................................................. 19

BELGIUMby Frank Hendrickx........................................................................... 39

BRAZILby Leonardo Andreotti Paulo de Oliveira
CROATIAby Vanja Smokvina.............................................................................. 73

CZECH REPUBLIC
by Marketa Haindlova
DENMARKby Jens Evald......................................................................... 101..................................................................................... 115

ENGLAND
by Richard Parrish............................................................................. 129

FRANCEby Jean Michel Marmayou
GERMANYby Jan Sienicki…...................................... 57.................................................................. 145.................................................................................. 173

10Contents

ITALY
by Michele Colucci............................................................................. 201

JAPANby Takuya Yamazaki............................................................................ 217

MEXICO
by Ricardo de Buen Rodriguez............................................................. 233

THE NETHERLANDS
by Wil Van Megen............................................................................... 249
PORTUGAL
by Rui Botica Santos.......................................................................... 269

ROMANIAby Geanina Tatu................................................................................. 289

RUSSIAby Olga Rymkevich............................................................................. 309

SLOVAK REPUBLIC
by Tomáš Gábriš
................................................................................. 343
SPAIN
by Juan de Dios Crespo Pérez.............................................................. 367

SWITZERLAND
by Lucien W. Valloni and Beat Wicki.................................................... 389

TURKEY
by Anil Gürsoy Artan and Murat Artan................................................ 413

THE EU SOCIAL DIALOGUE
by Arnout Geeraert............................................................................. 437
THE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
by Michele Colucci and Frank Hendrickx.......................................... 455

EUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

NOTE ON THE AUTHORS

Leonardo Andreotti Paulo de Oliveira, Professor and Academic Coordinator of
the Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Law at the School of Law - São Paulo/Brazil;
Visiting Professor of the LL.M. in International Sports Law at ISDE in Madrid andSports Law and Policy Centre in Rome; Attorney-at-law, Director of Andreotti –Advocacia Desportiva in Brazil and TAFS Arbitrator (Court of Arbitration for SouthAmerican Football).

Anil Gürsoy Artan, LL.M, Attorney at Law, Partner of Yogurtcuoglu &Gursoy Attorneys at Law, Ankara, Turkey.
Murat Artan, Turkey.
Rui Botica Santos, Arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, judge at the
FIA International Court of Appeal, Partner at Coelho Ribeiro e Associados andfounder of Coelho Ribeiro e Associados Timor Leste and licensed lawyer in Portugal,
Brazil, Timor-Leste and Macau.
Michele Colucci, Scientific director of the Sports Law and Policy Centre (Italy)and Honorary President of the Italian Association of Sports Lawyers.
Juan de Dios Crespo Pérez, Sports Lawyer, Director of Ruiz-Huerta & Crespo
Sports Lawyers in Valencia (Spain). Professor at Masters, including FIFA-CIES,MESGO, ISDE, etc. Arbitrator at the ECA of the European Handball Federation.
Author of several books and more than 100 articles on Sports Law.
Javier H. Delfino, LL.M, Attorney-at-law and Associate Professor of Labour andSocial Security, University of Buenos Aires.

12Note on the Authors

Jens Evald, Professor, dr.jur., Aarhus University, teaches among other subjects
Danish and International Sports Law. He was chairman of Anti Doping Denmark(2006-2012) and editor of Idraetsjuristen (The Sports Lawyer), yearbook of theDanish Sports Law Association.
Tomáš Gábriš, Attorney-at-law and Associate Professor at the Comenius University
in Bratislava, Faculty of Law, Slovak Republic. Member of the Legislative
Commission of the Slovak Football Association, member of the Scientific Committeeof the think tank Sport and Citizenship (France), member of the International
Association of Sports Law.
Arnout Geeraert, Post-doctoral research fellow at Leuven International andEuropean Studies [LINES] institute, KU Leuven, Belgium. Governance consultant
at Play the Game/ Danish Institute for Sports Studies, Denmark.
Marketa Haindlova, Attorney-at-law specialized on sports law, chairperson of
the Czech Association of Football Players, Counsel of the Czech Minister for
Education, Youth and Sport for sports issues and Chairman of the Legislative
Committee of the European Minifootball Federation, extern lecturer at the Law
School of Charles University in Prague.
Frank Hendrickx, Professor of labour law and sports law, University of Leuven.
Jean-Michel Marmayou, “Maître de conférences” at Aix-Marseille University.
Director of studies for the professional Master in Sports Law. Director of Les
Cahiers de droit du sport. Business law Centre (EA 4224). Sports law Centre of
Aix-Marseille. Affiliate professor Kedge Business School.
Richard Parrish, Professor of Sports Law, Edge Hill University, UK.
Ricardo de Buen Rodriguez, Founding and Managing Partner of the Law Firmde Buen Rodríguez Abogados, S.C., Mexico City, since November 2007. Professor
at different Universities in Mexico City in Labour Law and Sports Law. Visiting
Professor of the Master in International Sports Law (Madrid, Spain) ISDE. Memberof the Court of Arbitration for Sport since 2002.
Olga Rymkevich, Senior researcher, Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena
and Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Jan Sienicki, German-Polish Sports Lawyer, LL.M. International Sports Law,
resident and practicing in Berlin, Germany.

European Sports Law and Policy Bulletin 1/2014

13

Vanja Smokvina, PhD, Senior Research Assistant at the Faculty of Law, Universityof Rijeka, Croatia, and Visiting Research Associate at the Edge Hill University,
Centre for Sports Law Research, UK.
Geanina Tatu, Romanian & French Sports Lawyer, LL.M. International Sports
Law (ISDE-Madrid), Master II Droit du Sport (Aix-Marseille University).
Wil Van Megen, FIFPro’s Legal Director and lawyer at MHZ-advocaten.
Lucien W. Valloni, Ph.D., Partner at the Swiss law firm of Froriep in Zurich andhead of its litigation & arbitration as well as sports law practice group.
Beat Wicki, Attorney at Law, is Associate at the Swiss Law Firm FRORIEP andmember of its IP/IT practice group and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Zurich.
Takuya Yamazaki, Japanese Attorney-at-Law, is the founder and Managing Partnerof Field-R Law Offices, Member of the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber and
Deputy Chairman of FIFPro Division Asia/Oceania.

EUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

INTRODUCTION
Sport performs several functions in society: an educational, a social, a cultural aswell as a recreational function. Nevertheless sport is also a business: in economic
terms, it is a rapidly growing area accounting for 3% of world trade and is one of
the sectors most likely to generate new employment in the near future.
International and national sports associations regulate this business in anautonomous way and adopt private regulations or by-laws, including organisational,
disciplinary rules as well as rules of play. However, the trend towards more
professionalism in sport and its growing economic and relevance have prompted anincreasing reliance on legal rules adopted by governments and internationalorganizations such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the European
Union.
Sport is also considered as a “special sector” and could even be seen as a
specific ‘labour market’. In a professional sport context, athletes and players canbe considered as “special workers” and their clubs and teams as “special employers”.
The specific nature of sports, leading to the question of how public regulation andprivate sport rules relate to each other, is also an issue where employment
relationships are concerned. For example, how do employment law rules interrelatewith questions of athlete selection, remuneration, discipline or contracting? How
do laws and regulation support and implement players’ or athletes’ unionism orcollective bargaining that may take place? To what extent are team members seen
as regular employees, or individual players as self-employed persons?
In this book, we take stock of the rules and problems that exist whencombining the law on employment relations and specific sport contexts, andparticular sporting rules. The focus will be on professional football, a field of worldwide economic and social interest, where club-player relations are rather wellestablished and structured through international sporting bodies and a large numberof problems and issues have already occurred. Professional football is a field where
the interaction between public employment regulation and private sports regulation
is most relevant. The aim of this book is to examine the question of how the legal
regulation of employment relations are applied or adapted in the context ofprofessional football and to what extent could aspects of sport specificity be identified
or established to justify a special legal regime.
The editors would like to thank Antonella Frattini for the editorial assistanceand James Carey for the proof reading of the book.
Brussels, 31 October 2014
Michele Colucci

Frank Hendrickx

EUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AT NATIONAL LEVEL:
ARGENTINA
by Javier H. Delfino*
SUMMARY: Introduction – 1. Employment regulation and football structures – 2.
Sources of Law and approaches – 3. Individual employment relationship in
professional football – 4. Medical and doping issues – 5. Player Transfer – 6.
Social security principles (unemployment and pensions) – 7. Labour disputesettlement – Conclusion

Introduction
Argentina applies federal law to labour regulations - both individual and collective
ones, as well as to social security protection.
The current professional football player legal employment status isembodied in mandatory rules derived from the State and collective bargaining
agreements signed by labour unions and employers. In contrast, amateurism prevents
the employment principle. The relationship between sports entities and athletes
who play football as a professional activity is governed by a specific law andassisted by general employment law in those aspects that have not been regulated.
In addition, collective bargaining agreements are a key factor. Moreover, there area variety of rules set by the State, the Asociación del Futbol Argentino and FIFA.
As with many other countries, sources of sport law in Argentina are bothpublic and private. Athletes can have amateur or professional status according to
the sport discipline. Amateurism is the main rule regarding sport practice in thiscountry and professionalism is the exception.
Despite the increase of economic profits in some sport practices, thelegal entity remains as a non-profit organization. Sport governing bodies play asignificant role in the thriving business of sports, and their role goes far beyond theadoption of playing rules, yet they are still not commercial entities.
The Asociación del Futbol Argentino (AFA) is the main entity that controls____________________
Lawyer and Associate Professor of Labour and Social Security Law at Universidad de Buenos
Aires, Facultad de Derecho, Argentina.

*

20

Javier H. Delfino

the organization and practice of football, including members of all the local clubs.
Argentina has five well known clubs: Boca Juniors, River Plate, San Lorenzo,
Independiente and Racing, but all the teams around the country have produced
world class football talents. Any top club with an international scouting system will
seriously consider football players from this country.
1.

Employment regulation and football structures

1.1

Employment regulation

There is no federal code of laws regarding employment such as there is in civil,
commercial or penal law. However, there are many laws in force, enacted by thefederal government and effective nation-wide. Employment relationships, in theirmost general perspective, are governed by Law 20744 (LCT) enacted by the Federal
Congress in 1974, and its terms have been amended several times throughout theyears.
LCT governs employment relationships, from hiring to termination, withmandatory rules. A vast majority of concerns regarding the rights and duties of
employees and employers have been covered by this statute.
The statutory coverage includes every person in the lawful service ofanother who has the right to manage the work produced, where there is a payment
in compensation for it, and under any form of employment contract, be it express
or implied. This employment relationship is defined as salaried work (in contrast
with an independent contractor) and will be regulated by the LCT and thecorresponding collective bargaining agreement. There are some activities that are
excluded and some others that have particular statutes.
There is an iuris tantum presumption in favour of the existence of salaried
work in the case of services provided to a third party. Therefore, anyone wishing
to maintain the contrary will have to produce evidence to support such position.
The following matters are to be considered when determining whether theemployee is a salaried worker or an independent contractor: i) the extent of control
over or management of the work; ii) the power to discipline; and iii) the extent of
the economic position. Nevertheless, there is no agreement between scholars or
courts about which of these is the controlling factor.
LCT provides four alternatives for hiring employees: (a) permanent contract,(b) part-time scheme, (c) fixed term contract or (d) contract for a specific activity.
(a) A permanent contract is presumed to be on full time basis and has an indefinite
term, no written contract is required and the first 3 months are defined as atrial period.
(b) A part-time contract is when the daily activity is less than 2/3 of the customaryworking hours within the corresponding activity. In such instances thecompensation may not be lower than the proportional compensation for an
employee performing services on a full-time basis. The cap for the number ofEUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AT NATIONAL LEVEL:BELGIUMby Frank Hendrickx *SUMMARY: Introduction – 1. Employment regulation and football structures – 2.
Individual employment relations in professional football – 3. Medical and doping
issues – 4. Transfer of players – 5. Social security – 6. Labour dispute settlement

Introduction
In Belgium, football is one of the major sports in the country. Not only from thebroad public, but also from the perspective of the legal system, football attracts a
lot of attention. The famous Bosman-case originates from a Belgian legal dispute,
like other European sports cases.
Football is practiced at amateur level as well as at professional level. The
law follows this distinction to a certain extent. While labour law applies to theemployment relationship between club and player in a professional context, there is
specific sport legislation, such as the Act of 24 February 1978 concerning theemployment contract for sports professionals (the Sports Professionals Act). In thefederal system of Belgium, the regions (Communities) are competent for sports. In
the Flemish Community, there is a Decree of 24 July 1996 with regard to the statusof the non-professional athlete. It applies to athletes who do not qualify as
professionals under the Sports Professionals Act. It includes amateur-level football
players, even those who obtain remuneration, to the extent that the annual grossremuneration is lower than the threshold referred to in the Sports Professionals Act
and which will be discussed below.
1.

Employment regulation and football structures

Employment in professional football in Belgium is mainly undertaken in theframework of an employment contract. It means that football contracts are largely
dominated by provisions of employment law. A central piece of legislation is the
Act of 3 July 1978 on employment contacts (the Employment Contracts Act).
____________________*

Professor of labour law and sports law, University of Leuven.

40

Frank Hendrickx

Furthermore, as has been mentioned above, there is the Act of 24 February
1978 concerning the employment contract for sports professionals (the Sports
Professionals Act). By sports professionals is meant those persons who undertaketo prepare themselves for, or take part in, a competition or sports spectator event
under the authority of another person in return for remuneration exceeding a certain
level or threshold.1 The Sports Professionals Act applies to professional football
players whose annual gross remuneration is higher than a certain threshold, as
determined by Royal Decree on a yearly basis. With the Royal Decree of 27 May
2014 this threshold is set at a remuneration of 9.400 Euro gross per year for theperiod of 1 July 2014 until and including 30 June 2015.2
Next to this legislation, there is a practice of concluding collective agreements
on football employment in the sectorial Joint Labour Committee n° 223 competentfor sports.3 At the time of writing, the collective agreement of 2 July 2013 governs
the contract of professional football players and their clubs to the extent that they
are regulated by the Sports Professionals Act. This ‘football collective agreement’is concluded for a limited duration of time and expires after 30 June 2015. It
succeeds and replaces previous football collective agreements which are usuallyconcluded for a fixed-term. Since the football agreement is concluded in a Joint
Committee which has a national competence in the sports sector, it is applicable in
the whole country.
Finally, specific regulations within the football associations apply concerning
the status of players and clubs. Professional (but also amateur) football in Belgium
is organised by the Royal Belgian Football Association (the RBFA), who was foundedin 1895. By adhering to the Royal Belgian Football Association, clubs and players
agree to respect the RBFA regulations.4 Furthermore, international footballregulations, such as the FIFA Regulations, similarly intervene.
It is obvious that labour law provisions interfere with the various specificinternal football rules and regulations concerning clubs and players to the extent
that they affect the employment relationship or employment rights. It makes theemployment contract between club and player, often indicated as the ‘footballcontract’, a hybrid or double-layered construct. On the one hand, the contract isgoverned by employment law provisions, while on the other hand it is ruled by the
football regulations of the respective national and international football organisation.
The general rule, however, is that employment law provisions are of a mandatory
nature and hierarchically of a higher rank. Therefore, football regulations governing
the contract between club and player, can only apply in so far as they are inaccordance with the applicable employment legislation or other mandatory legal
provisions.
____________________
Article 2 Sports Professionals Act.
Royal Decree 27 May 2014, Off. Gaz. 20 June 2014.
3
This Joint Labour Committee was established by the Royal Decree of 10 August 1978, Off. Gaz. 17
October 1978.
4
Article 504.1 Regulations Royal Belgian Football Association, http://extranet.e-kickoff.com/project/publiek/ reglement/reglement_nl.pdf, consulted on 19 October 2011.
1
2

EUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AT NATIONAL LEVEL:
BRAZILby Leonardo Andreotti Paulo de Oliveira*
SUMMARY: Introduction – 1. Employment regulation and football structures – 2.
The professional athlete and professional sport – 3. Individual employment relationsin professional football – 4. Medical and doping issues – 5. Transfer of players – 6.
Insurance – 7. Settlement of employment disputes – Conclusion

Introduction
Sports Law, as part of so-called “new rights”, quickly achieved a global dimension.
Perhaps due to the very dynamic nature of sport itself, the standardization of its
rules has become one of the most international of international activities. In thisrespect, Professor João Leal Amado has described the “sportification of the planet”,
in highlighting the presence of this activity around the world, and asserted that “itsabsence in contemporary life is simply unimaginable”.1
This internationalization was in some respects responsible for the growthof Sports Law globally, since each country regulates sport in its own way, in
accordance with the laws and constitutional principles of the nation. The interesting
thing about this phenomenon is that it has created an abundance of comparative
allowing national legal systems to assist those of other countries, especially in thearea of integration and interpretation of the rules, because sport is an activity that islargely equal in all corners of the world, regardless of location.
Considering the importance of comparative study, it is our task to explore
and comment on the quirks and nuances of Sports Law and Sports Employment in____________________
Masters Degree in Sports Law, Masters Degree in Contract Law; Director of the Brazilian Sports
Law Institute; Member of the Board of the Brazilian Journal of Sports Law - RBDD and Member of
the Italian Journal of Law and Economics of Sport – RDES; Professor and Academic Coordinator of
the Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Law at the School of Law - São Paulo/Brazil; Professor of the
LL.M. in International Sports Law at ISDE/Madrid and of the Master in Diritto e Organizzazione
Aziendale dello Sport at the Sports Law and Policy Centre, Rome; Attorney-at-law at Andreotti –Advocacia Desportiva. TAFS Arbitrator (Court of Arbitration for South American Football).
1
Melo Filho, Álvaro. Nova Lei Pelé: avanços e impactos. Rio de Janeiro: Maquinária, 2011, 28.
*

58

Leonardo Andreotti Paulo de Oliveira

Brazil, in order that, where appropriate, it may become an object of study andeven a model for building an innovative system in territories where this branch oflaw is not present and to aid in the integration and interpretation of the rules where
it is in the process of developing.
1.

Employment regulation and football structures

Sport, with the passage of time, ceased to remain a leisure activity, and instead,
was transformed into a “business”. Thanks to enormous popular interest in the
sporting spectacle, the amateur and comparatively innocent practice of sport as a
pastime has evolved, even to the point where the Olympic Movement, which forso long acted as a defender of “amateurism”, could not avoid imminent“professionalism”.
In discussing the Olympic Games of the modern era, Portuguese scholar,
Alexandre Miguel Mestre (2008),2 said “there was long a discussion around theconcept of amateur athletics, a quality required for an athlete to be considered
eligible to participate in the Olympic Games.” However, as Mestre goes on tostate, the situation would clearly change some time later, but even back in 1976, it
was heralded as a new era in sport, especially when pitted as Amateurism versus
Professionalism.3
What is certain is that the interest in and popularity of sports activities led
to the inevitable professionalization and with it, the prevalence of the businessaspect over all other aspects of sport so that it “progressively involved morevariables related to business, so that 3% of world trade is now related to sport
and it has become one of the most valued consumer products in the world, withstate and international regulations increasingly focussed thereon”.4
Thereafter national and international standards, respectively characterized
as Normative Laws and Acts issued by the State, and private Statutes and Regulations
issued by international sports bodies, represented mostly by the International
Federations, were enacted, especially those aimed at the protection of performance
artists and workers who take part in competition whilst at work and work whilstcompeting, rather than just taking part in activities socially.
Moreover, the protection of the right to employment and particularly thefree movement of workers, initially within the framework of the European Union,
was brought to the fore with the European Court of Justice’s decision in the case of
the Belgian professional footballer Jean Marc Bosman, in 1995. The Bosman ruling,a famous decision which shook private sports clubs in Europe, drew attention to a____________________
Mestre, Alexandre Miguel. Direito e Jogos Olímpicos. Coimbra: Almedina, 2008, 117.
From 1976, the legislature began to be less restrictive in relation to the notion of “amateur athlete”.
Indeed, even if Rule 26 of the International Olympic Committee Eligibility Rules continued to demandthat the athlete could not receive any benefit or payment in kind, under threat of being ineligible, thelegislature made an exception, annexing a list of situations in which the athlete could still be considered
as an amateur, despite being paid.
4
Melo Filho, Álvaro. Nova Lei Pelé: avanços e impactos. Rio de Janeiro: Maquinária, 2011, 29.
23EUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AT NATIONAL LEVEL:ENGLAND
by Richard Parrish*
SUMMARY: 1. Introduction – 2. Historical perspectives – 3. The structure of English
football – 4. Employment relations in English professional football – 5. Transfer
rules and the standard contract of employment – 6. Anti-Doping – 7. Conclusions

1.

Introduction

A professional footballer’s employment relationship with his club is complex. Not
only is it informed by general employment and contract laws, he is also boundcontractually by the rules of the English Football Association (FA), the rules of thePremier League or Football League, and UEFA and FIFA regulations. This chapter
confines itself to a discussion of how the employment relationship is regulated
under national law and by the regulations of the English football authorities. It
begins with an historical overview of employment relations in professional football
before examining the structure of English football, modern employment relations inEnglish football, transfer rules and the standard contract of employment, and antidoping rules.
2.

Historical perspectives

In England, the ‘professional’ footballer emerged following the decision of theFootball Association (FA) to sanction the payment of players by clubs in 1885. By
1888 the establishment of the Football League brought order to the haphazard
organisation of the game by offering clubs guaranteed fixtures, regular revenues
and the stability of a set of rules and regulations.1 The new structure concurrently____________________
Professor of Sports Law, Edge Hill University, UK. Some of the discussion contained within draws
and builds on the contribution made in Parrish, R. & Pendlebury, A. (2013), International andComparative Sports Justice: England, European Sports Law and Policy Bulletin, 1/2013, 97-127.
1
HARDING, J. (2009), Behind the Glory: 100 Years of the PFA, Derby: Breedon Books, 12.
*130Richard Parrish

offered the professional player the actual means of securing a living from the game.
However, from the outset, the League was concerned that balanced competitionon the pitch required coordinated action off it. Without it, public interest in thegame would wane as clubs in large cities would dominate at the expense of thoseclubs from smaller markets. In a debate surprisingly still relevant today, the League
was faced with having to decide between intervening either in the product market(such as enacting revenue sharing arrangements between clubs) or in the labour
market (such as placing restrictions on the migration of the best talent to the larger
clubs). The absence of a players’ union, combined with the strength of employer
interests, settled the issue. Two regulatory interventions in the labour market
followed.
The first originated in 1891. The so-called retain-and-transfer systemsanctioned a restrictive labour practice through which a club retained a player’s‘registration’ even though contractual relations between the club and player had
ended. At the end of the season a player could be retained by his club, even at awage lower than his previous terms. If retained, the player remained a registeredplayer of the retaining club and so could not take up employment with anotherclub, even though he was not re-employed by the retaining club until he had signed
his contract. Players not retained were placed on a transfer list and were not free tosign for a new club, except to those willing to match the transfer fee demanded by
the transferee. The objectives pursued by the system were to introduce contractual
stability to the profession and limit the concentration of talent within a few clubs
thus promoting competitive balance within the league. The practical effect provided
the club with a ‘virtual monopoly over the player’s services… effectively tying him
to his club until, and if, the club gave the player permission to move elsewhere’2
with players being ‘mere chattels to be bought and sold by clubs’.3 The second
labour market intervention devised in 1900 saw the establishment of the maximum
wage. According to this measure, a player, no matter how talented, could earn nomore than £4 a week, although some benefitted from unauthorised ‘boot-money’.
The combined effect of the retain-and-transfer system and the maximum
wage saw the prospect of commercial freedom offered by professionalism and theformation of the League quickly denied to players. Clubs even attempted to denyplayer’s employee status in order to limit their statutory employment related
liabilities.4 In Walker v Crystal Palace Football Club [1910], the Court of Appeal
applied a new ‘control test’ as a common law means of distinguishing an employee
subject to the control of the employer from a self-employed contractor who is not.5___________________
Thomas, D., (2006), The retain and transfer system, in: Andreff, W & Szymanski, S. Handbook on
the Economics of Sport, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 630.
3
Dabscheck, B., (1986), Beating the off-side trap: the case of the PFA, Industrial Relations
Journal, 17(4), 353.
4
The Workman’s Compensation Act (1906) established the right for employees to receive compensation
for injuries sustained at work.
5
Walker v Crystal Palace Football Club [1910] 1 KB 87.
2

EUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AT NATIONAL LEVEL:FRANCEby Jean-Michel Marmayou *SUMMARY: Introduction – 1. Employment regulation and football structures – 2.
Individual employment relations in professional football – 3. Medical and doping
issues – 4. Transfer of players – 5. Social security and taxation – 6. Labour disputesettlement

Abstract:
An insight into the legal mechanisms governing employment issues in French
football. This article provides an overview of how the French football regulations
treat professional footballers, and also, but to a lesser extent, amateur footballers.
It covers the contents and prerequisites of a valid employment contract, the duties
and obligations of clubs and players, the professional ethics and conduct rules towhich footballers are subject, termination of contracts and the consequences anddisciplinary issues, including dispute resolution mechanisms.

Introduction
A professional footballer’s employment relationship with his club is complex. If
professional football player is a worker just like any other worker, as Bosman casesaid, ordinary labor law applies although there is some specificity that mightcomplicate. The relationship is subject to the ordinary labor law and ordinary contract
law and it’s also bound by the rules of a special collective agreement (Charte du____________________“Maître de conférences” at Aix-Marseille University. Director of studies for the professional Masterin Sports Law. Director of Les Cahiers de droit du sport. Business law Centre (EA 4224). Sports law
Centre of Aix-Marseille. Affiliate professor Kedge Business School. www.centrededroitdusport.fr.
*

146

Jean-Michel Marmayou

football professionnel) and, further, contractually by the rules of the French Football
Federation (FFF) and UEFA and FIFA regulations.
This article should provide a general overview of provisions in Frenchlabor law and its related fields of different collective rules that are relevant for
professional football players. It confines itself to a discussion of how the employment
relationship is regulated under national law and by the regulations of the French
football authorities. For the sake of clarity, it is restricted to the statutory sources of
the French football authorities. Moreover, the sources of law of international
associations like the FIFA or the UEFA are intentionally excluded, least because theFrench labor rules are considered public order issues.
1.

Employment regulations and football structures

A.

Sources of French employment law

Multiple sources - French employment laws applicable to the footballers containcertain very specific measures. Although French law is based on the RomanoGermanic legal system and is broken down into a variety of specialist legal fields, itdoes not offer employed footballers the security of a well-defined branch of law
specifically applicable to them. In practice, within the various structures formed by
the different sources of French law, those that actually apply to footballers have to
be sought out. Moreover, the French legal system assigns an important role to an
extremely disruptive element: the so-called “principe de faveur” [principle offavour]” according to which an employee may benefit from certain privileges over
and above those accorded by the laws and regulations.
The main principles of EU law apply to the employment of footballers inFrance, that is to say freedom of movement, freedom to establish companies,
freedom to offer services. EU secondary laws also apply, notably on issues
concerning the information of workers, the organisation of work time, health andsafety at work, fixed-term employment, employee protection in cases of employer
insolvency, etc.
In France, the main principles are contained in a body of constitutional law
and especially the preamble to the 1946 Constitution which proclaims the “economicand employment rights that are particularly relevant to our era”, including the rightto obtain employment and duty to work, freedom of association, right to strike,prohibition on discrimination against workers, etc.
Most of these rules are to be found in the Code de Travail [employmentlaws]. However, these laws do not encompass all the rules and regulations relating
to employment. Indeed, the general rules set out in the Civil Code on the so-called“law of obligations” (such as contract law) continue to govern employment contracts
despite the existence of very specific employment rules and regulations, such as
those contained in the French 1978 data protection laws, the Code de la PropriétéIntellectuelle [intellectual property and patent laws], the Code de Commerce [businessEUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AT NATIONAL LEVEL:GERMANYby Jan Sienicki*
SUMMARY: 1. Employment regulation and football structures – 2. Individual
employment relations in professional football – 3. Medical and doping issues – 4.
Transfer of players – 5. Social security principles – 6. Labour Dispute settlement –7. Conclusions

Abstract:
In the wording of the national football association’s statutes and ordinances
Professional football players in Germany are literally referred to as “employees
of a special kind”1 and “contractual partners of a special kind”.2 In order todetect the background for this terminology, this article elaborates on the interactionof statutory labour law, the contractual relationship between the athlete and his
club and the conflict arising out of this.3

1.

Employment regulation and football structures

1.1

Sources of law and approaches

In all of German labour legislation, whether of individual or collective nature, the____________________
German-Polish Sports Lawyer, LL.M. International Sports Law, resident and practicing in Berlin,
Germany.
1§ 10 statutes for licence-players (old edition, prior to 2002)
2
Recitals of the LOS (vide footnote 13)
3With respect to all the other distinguished and comprehensive contributions from various countries
in this book and considering the title and the defined scope of this chapter, the following analysis is
made under the assumption that the player(s) referred to is of German nationality.
*

174

Jan Sienicki

point of reference is the existence of an employment relationship - hence theappearance of the term “employee”.
Pursuant to labour jurisdiction, an employee is someone who is boundby instructions and as a service provider is integrated into the work-organisation of
the recipient of such services.4
A person’s qualification as an employee does have a significant impact on
the application of law, e.g. the competence of labour courts together with theprocedural particularities in relation to a civil case (procuration, costs etc.), theapplication of § 623 BGB5 and labour protection acts, particularly the Law on theProtection Against Unfair Dismissal (Kündigungsschutzgesetz - KSchG), the Act
on Continued Remuneration During Illness (Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz - EFZG)
and the Works Constitution Act (Betriebsverfassungsgesetz - BetrVG).6
Contractually stipulated obligations as to the time and place of a training
session or competition, especially the participation in a league-competition or duties
pertaining to conduct on and off the pitch (e.g. attendance at club’s or sponsor’s
appointments/events) do in fact support the notion of professional football players
being qualified as employees. However, in order to mark out the legal framework a
Bundesliga-player is subject to, it is indispensable to take closer look at the football
structures in Germany and the regulations deriving from these.
1.2

Football structures

As with basically every Sport in Germany, football is categorised by the pyramidal
structure comprised of federation(s) and clubs. Moreover, it is distinguished by adualism between licensed (professional) football and amateur-football.7
While the organisation of football on the amateur-level is incumbent to the
DFB8 exclusively, the professional pillar of Germany’s no. 1 sport is governed byboth the DFB and the Ligaverband,9 which is an association constituted of the 36
clubs of the 1. and 2. Bundesliga and, as an ordinary member of the DFB, is incharge of managing the operational business of these top two divisions.10 To achieve
the latter, the Ligaverband founded the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH (DFL____________________
Cf. BAG from 16.07.1997 – 5 AZR 312/96.
BGB: Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (German Civil Code); § 623 BGB states: Termination of employment
by notice of termination or separation agreement requires written form to be effective; electronic
form is excluded.
6
J.M. Menke, Profisportler zwischen Arbeitsrecht und Unternehmertum - Ein Beitrag zum
Arbeitnehmerbegriff am Beispiel des Berufsfußballers, Hamburg, Dr. Kovac, 2006, 20.
7
F. Holzhäuser, Der strukturelle Aufbau professioneller deutscher Sportligen nach Ausgliederung
aus Bundesfachsportverbänden, SpuRt 2004, 145.
8
DFB: Deutscher-Fußball-Bund e.V. (German Football Federation).
9
Ligaverband: Die Liga - Fußballverband e.V. (League Association); Ordinary member of DFB as
per § 16-16 d) DFB-statutes.
10
The Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga remain DFB facilities but are being allocated for use to the
Ligaverband (as their operator); § 4 No 1 a) Ligaverband-statutes.
45EUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AT NATIONAL LEVEL:JAPANby Takuya Yamazaki*

SUMMARY: Introduction – 1. Employment regulation and football structures – 2.
Individual employment relations in professional football – 3. Doping issues – 4.
Transfer of players – 5. Social security principles – 6. Labour dispute settlement

Introduction
The Japan Professional Football League was established in 1993 (“J-League”)1, so
its history is still relatively young. However, the J-League has expanded rapidly in avery short time – from a mere 10 team one division format at its inception to a 51
team three division format in 2014 (1st division (“J1”) – 18 teams; 2nd division(“J2”) – 22 teams; and 3rd division, established in 2014 (“J3”) – 11 teams) – tobecome Asia’s most high-profile, developed league. The J-League constitutes a
relatively large labour market, with over 1,000 Japanese players registered plus a
number of foreign players. In principle, J1 and J2 clubs are subject to a foreign
player quota, under which they may register three foreign players plus an Asian
player – who is a citizen of a country in the Asian Football Confederation (“AFC”)2.
(J3 is subject to a stricter foreign player quota. Please refer to 1.1.6 below.)____________________
Takuya, a Japanese Attorney-at-Law, is the founder and Managing Partner of Field-R Law Offices,a niche sports and entertainment legal practice based in Tokyo.
Takuya has vast legal and business experience in sports both in Japan and internationally. He is amember of the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, a position held since 2009. In 2011 he became the
Deputy Chairman of FIFPro Division Asia/Oceania. Takuya’s book “Sports Law in Japan” waspublished in 2012 by Kluwer Law International.
Further information about Takuya, his lectures and achievements can be found at: www.field-r.com/
en/people.
1
The J-League website in English is available at: www.j-league.or.jp/eng.
2
The AFC website in English is available at: www.the-afc.com/en.
*

218

Takuya Yamazaki

1.

Employment regulation and football structures

1.1

Sources of law and approaches (including public law, private law, andemployment law)1.1.1 Introduction
In Japan there are no special laws, such as labour law regulations, for professional
sports people like footballers. In fact even as the law has expanded to the sports
world with the enactment of Japan’s Basic Act on Sport (“BAS”)3 in 2011, there
are no regulations therein that mention the legal status of professional sports people.
As a result, there has long been controversy in the law about how professional
sports players, like footballers, should be treated in relation to Japan’s generallabour law regulations.
1.1.2 Professional footballers as ‘workers’
One thing that has long been debated in Japanese professional sport, is whether it
can be said that professional athletes, like footballers, are ‘workers’ under the
related Japanese labour law and legislation?
For instance, it is not doubted that parties such as professional golfers
and athletes, who are independent and lead professional lives based on revenue
from prize money and sponsorship, are ‘sole-proprietors’. However, what is thesituation when professional athletes, such as baseball and football players thatbelong to professional clubs and provide services under the orders of these clubs(including for training and match participation)?
Are the contracts between these players and clubs not considered‘employment contracts’ under the Civil Code (articles 623–631)4 or ‘labour contracts’
under the Labour Contracts Act (“LCA”)?5 In other words the issue is whether thelegal status of these professional athletes is that of ‘workers’?
The merit of debating this issue is the following point: does labour law
in Japan (including, the Labour Standards Act (“LSA”),6 the Labour Union Act(“LUA”)7 and Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act (“IACIA”)8 apply
to professional baseball and football players?
In relation to this point, there have been arguments among sports law
experts about whether, in general, such a professional player contract is an____________________
Basic Act on Sports, law no. 78 of 2011.
Civil Code, law no. 89 of 1896 and amendment law no. 78 of 2006.
5
Labour Contracts Act, law no. 128 of 2007.
6
Labour Standards Act, law no. 49 of 1947 and amendment law no. 147 of 2004.
7
Labour Union Act, law no. 174 of 1949 and amendment law no. 87 of 2005.
8
Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, law no. 50 of 1947 and amendment law no.
111 of 2007.
3
4

EUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AT NATIONAL LEVEL:
SPAIN
by Juan de Dios Crespo Pérez*SUMMARY: 1. Introduction – 2. Employment regulation – 3. Contents of therelationship – 4. Labour dispute

1.

Introduction

The relationship between athletes and their clubs has for a long time been separated
from employment legislation in Spain. Footballers have no specific legislation but
are into the one for the rest of the professional sportsmen. It has to be said that
there are only footballers, basketball players and cyclists who are officially considered
as professional sportsmen in Spain, despite the fact that other sports have a clear
professional standing.
This is a clear evidence of the fact that “professional” does not mean thesame that “under employment contract” as it should be, but the administrative
wording is somehow different that the labour one.
Thus, labour Courts will always take into consideration the “employment
contract” of the employees and not the “professional” consideration by a club or aFederation.
This conception of sport as pure entertainment or physical activity andnot as work was reflected in the rules which tried to discipline the sport. Indeed,
these rules seek not only to exclude the qualification as professional of therelationship between athletes and their sport entities, but expressly excluded thepossibility to appeal to the labor courts to resolve the disputes that may arise
between athletes and sports organizations.
It was eventually included in the Employees’ Statute in article 2.1.d) as a
special employment relationship, and the Government legislated on the special
labor relationship of professional athletes through Royal Decree 1006/1985, dated
26th June.
____________________
Juan de Dios Crespo Pérez is a Sports Lawyer, Director of Ruiz-Huerta & Crespo Sports Lawyers
in Valencia (Spain). www.ruizcrespo.com.

*

368

Juan de Dios Crespo Pérez

In the sport sector, we can distinguish two different kinds of employment
relationships:
Special employees: Those who professionally practice a sport activity under
the direction of someone else maintain a special employment relationship with
their employers (clubs, sport associations, etc.). The special employment
relationship or special employment contract is a legal concept of the Spanish
law, meaning that the relationship is of an employment nature but with anumber of peculiarities. Thus, the special contract is regulated by a special
regulation: the Royal Decree 1006/1985. In absence of specific provision inthis regulation the general employment laws apply (non-peremptory legislation),among them the Employees’ Statute of 1995.
Employees of this type are sportsmen and-women themselves but also trainers
or coaches; case-law shows some doubts whether or not a physical or athletic
trainer belongs in the special relationship.
Common employees: on the other hand, these same clubs, federations, sport
associations, etc. may establish general or common employment relationships
with sport workers whose functions are not the practice of a sport activity.
These other employment relationships are not regulated by the Royal Decree
1006/1985, but by the general employment laws (Employees’ Statute of 1995
and other enactments).
Employees of this other kind are, for example, administrative staff, medical
and sanitary staff and auxiliary and blue-collar employees not directly involvedin the professional practice of sport.
1.1

Collective bargaining agreements in Football

Collective agreements are very important both for special and common employees.
Nowadays many aspects of the employment relationship are given over by thelaws and regulations to the collective autonomy of employers’ and employees’
associations.
In the Royal Decree 1006/1985, regulating professional athletes’ special
relationship, collective agreements are mentioned at least 11 times in just 21 articles.
In this regard we can highlight the football collective agreements in Spanish
professional sport as one of the most important and which have had a lot of
problematic.
Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for professional football activities
signed between the National Professional Football League (LNFP) and the
Spanish Footballers Association (AFE) on 25 July 2014. Its functional sphereis referred (art. 1) to “the Professional Footballers who render services inthe teams of the Football Clubs and Sports Incorporated Companies affiliatedto the National Professional Football League”.
This CBA has been approved for the following two seasons, i.e. 2014/2015
and 2015/2016.

EUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AT NATIONAL LEVEL:SWITZERLAND
by Lucien W. Valloni* and Beat Wicki**
SUMMARY: 1. Introduction – 2. Employment regulation and football structures – 3.
Individual employment relations in professional football – 4. Doping issues – 5.
Transfer of players – 6. Social security principles – 7. Labor dispute settlement

1.

Introduction

Sport may be one of the greatest pastimes in the world, but it does not remain
undisturbed from commercialization, professionalization, globalization andjuridification, especially when it comes to football. The football club’s monopoly
position and the specificity of sport in general take effect on employment relationships
between football clubs and their players. This article should provide a general
overview of provisions in Swiss labor law and its related fields of law that are
relevant for professional football players. The article cannot deal with individualquestions. It rather makes available to the reader a first orientation on the areas andsources of law that have to be considered in connection with the employment
relationship with a professional football player in Switzerland. Provided that theauthors refer to the terms “employee” and “employer”, the relevant explanations
also regard employment relationships between football players and their clubs. For
the sake of clarity, this article is restricted to the statutory sources of the Swiss
Football Association and the Swiss Football League when it comes to regulations
within the associations. The sources of law of international associations like theFIFA or the UEFA as well as of subordinated national leagues are intentionally
excluded to a large extent. They are only mentioned if such regulations play a
crucial role for the employment relationship.

____________________
Lucien W. Valloni, Ph.D., Attorney at Law, is Partner of the Swiss Law Firm FRORIEP and headof its sports law and litigation practice groups.
**
Beat Wicki, Attorney at Law, is Associate at the Swiss Law Firm FRORIEP and member of its IP/
IT practice group and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Zurich.
*

390

Lucien W. Valloni and Beat Wicki

2.

Employment regulations and football structures

2.1

Sources of law

In Swiss law, there are no special statutory sources to regulate an employment
relationship for football players and other athletes. Therefore, employment contracts
with athletes have to be assessed on the basis of the employment contract between
the athlete and the sports club, the general rules provided by Swiss labor law
according to art. 319 et. sqq. of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO) and theFederal Act on Labor in Manufacturing, Business and Trade (Labor Act).
Furthermore, regulations of the respective sports clubs and of associations that theclub is a member of or that athletes submit themselves to have to be considered.1
In this context, the Swiss Football League (SFL), which enacts the regulations thatare relevant for professional football in Switzerland, should especially be highlighted.2
Such regulations have yet to be considered only, if they do not violate mandatory
law.3
Swiss law does not provide for special statutory sources that are applicableon athletes and their employment relationships. On the one hand, this could be dueto the fact that Swiss labor law is structured liberally per se. On the other hand,professional athletes in Switzerland are faced with the fact that their activity is still
not always accepted as a conventional profession.4 This situation occasionally leads
to unsatisfying results. For example, professional football players with employment
contracts are governed by the Labor Act’s protection provisions.5 This law and its
safeguarding provisions are geared to standard weekly hours. For athletes, who –in many cases – work on weekends or in the evening (training and competition),
this is in many respects not appropriate (see also chapter 3.2.5).6 Art. 27 Labor Act
contains a solution for this problem. The provision allows certain groups of businesses
or employees to be excluded from certain safeguarding provisions entirely or partiallyand to be governed by special provisions. Yet, this possibility has not been exercisedin Switzerland so far. This could – among other things – be due to the fact thatflexible working hours for athletes are generally accepted.7
2.2

Applicable law

The question, whether a legal dispute between an athlete and his sports club is____________________
See L. W. Valloni/T. Pachmann, Sports Law in Switzerland, Alphen aan den Rijn, Wolters Kluwer,
2014, n 227.
2
See J. Kleiner, Der Spielervertrag im Berufsfussball, Zürich/Basel/Genf, Schulthess, 2013, 33.
3
See L. W. Valloni/T. Pachmann, Sports Law in Switzerland, Alphen aan den Rijn, Wolters Kluwer,
2014, n 227.
4
See L. W. Valloni/T. Pachmann, Sportrecht in a nutshell, Zürich/St. Gallen, Dike, 2012, 76.
5
See J. Kleiner, Der Spielervertrag im Berufsfussball, Zürich/Basel/Genf, Schulthess, 2013, 129.
6
See L. W. Valloni/T. Pachmann, Sports Law in Switzerland, Alphen aan den Rijn, Wolters Kluwer,
2014, n 228.
7
See L. W. Valloni/T. Pachmann, Sports Law in Switzerland, Alphen aan den Rijn, Wolters Kluwer,
2014, n 228.
1

EUROPEAN SPORTS LAW AND POLICY BULLETIN 1/2014

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP IN FOOTBALL:
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
by Michele Colucci and Frank Hendricks
SUMMARY: 1. The (sometimes difficult) reception of football employment in labour
law – 2. Addressing the specific sport or football issues in labour law – 3. Specificsports acts or football acts – 4. Collective bargaining – 5. Transfer rules – 6.
Dispute settlement

The survey of the employment relationship regulations of professional footballactivities in different legal systems, delivers a variety of views and insights. We
have divided them into various headings hereafter, taking the peculiarities of eachcountry into account.
1.

The (sometimes difficult) reception of football employment in labourlaw

A first major issue is how to address football employment from a legislative pointof view. Many legal systems depart from the idea that general employment law
governs the football employment relationship. The integration of football
employment into the broader concepts and mechanisms of employment law aims
for a better legal protection of both football players and their employers. This is thecase in The Netherlands where specific sports activities fit well within the ordinary
labour law rules.
In Argentina players are workers and have mandatory protection basedon general employment laws first, and then, on special regulations for professional
players’ activity.
Even in countries where the government usually abstains from regulating
sport, such as the United Kingdom, employment law covers football employment.
For example, in the case Walker v Crystal Palace Football Club [1910], the Courtof Appeal applied a new ‘control test’ as a common law means of distinguishing an
employee subject to the control of the employer from a self-employed contractor
who is not. The Court ruled that the employee status of professional footballers
comes from their obligation to abide by the club’s rules and practices, training
regime and general instructions.

456

Michele Colucci and Frank Hendricks

In Germany contractually stipulated obligations as to the time and placeof a training session or sporting competition, especially the participation in a leaguecompetition, or duties pertaining to conduct on and off the pitch (e.g. attendance atclub’s or sponsor’s appointments/events) qualify professional football players as
employees.
However, for some other countries the application of ordinary
employment law to football employment is either excluded or limited and conditioned.
For example, in the Czech Republic system professional players falloutside the scope of labour law. Players have to sign into a civil law contract andhave recognized a self-employed legal status. Therefore, they deal with tax andsocial security contributions by themselves. It is reported that this implies, in practice,a player-club relationship that is unbalanced in favor of the employer. In the Czech
Republic, players are seen as the weaker party since they are not duly protected.
The Czech stakeholders are negotiating the national implementation of
the “Autonomous Agreement regarding the Minimum Requirements for Standard
Player Contracts”, as negotiated between UEFA, ECA, FIFPro and EPFL at
European level. The Football Association of the Czech Republic together with the
Czech Association of Football Players and the League Football Association havebeen working on changes to the Czech (football) legislation in order to meet therequirements of professional player contracts. The implementation of theAutonomous Agreement is expected to lead to one of the most important changes
in the sporting activity of professional players within the past ten years.
In Slovakia the labour code defines dependent work. Such a notion
covers the professional athletes’ employment relationship. Notwithstanding thisgeneral principle, in practice labour law does not apply to footballers.
In fact, atypical contracts based on the Civil Code or the Commercial
Code govern the players’ agreements. This is due to the rigid nature of the Slovakian
Labour Code and the failure of the Slovak Republic to enact specific laws on theemployment status of players, taking into account the specificities of the sports
sector. As a consequence, once again, football players as self-employed persons
have to deal with tax and social security systems.
A similar issue arises in Croatia where the Croatian Football Federation
defines the terms of the self-employed status of professional players. Like in the
Czech Republic, footballers are excluded from protection under national labour
law and need to pay by tax and social security contributions themselves. This has
been highlighted as a problem, considering that clubs fall short of complying with
their contractual obligations, such as remuneration, towards the players. Nowadays
more than 60 professional players are reported to have debts towards the national
tax authorities and bank accounts and property have been blocked.
Therefore, the noticeable trend is for changing the legal status ofprofessional players into an employment contract recognised under regular labourlaw. A working group of the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport isdealing with a new Sports Act bill of law. As for the Czech Republic, theEmployment relationships in football: a comparative analysis

457“Autonomous Agreement regarding the Minimum Requirements for Standard
Player’s Contract” should integrate the legal status of professional football players
into a labour law.
When you move to the Far East, Japan raises a similar issue. There areno special laws, such as labour law regulations, for professional footballers. In fact,even in a situation where the legislator has covered sports through the enactment ofJapan’s Basic Act on Sport in 2011, there are no regulations therein that address
the legal status of professional sports people. Footballers are thus generally notworkers under Japanese labour law. In general, whether a professional football
player might qualify as an employee depends on the interpretation of every single
rule of law applicable to that case.
In Turkey, the Labour Code clearly excludes athletes from its scope.
Therefore, the Civil Code, the Code of Obligations and the sports federation’s
regulations govern the football players’ employment relationship.
In Russia, the State plays a significant regulatory role together with sports
associations. In particular, the Russian Federal Law 13-FZ of 28 February 2008
has added an entire section to the Russian Labour Code RF (2001) regulating theemployment of professional sportsmen and women.
2.

Addressing the specific sport or football issues in labour law

In Italy, ordinary law takes into account the specificity of sport, so derogatingfrom labour legislation, which applies to employees’ relationships. In particular, it
waives the application of the relevant legislation on the protection of the freedom
and dignity of workers and of trade union freedom and union activity in theworkplace. Moreover the rules regarding the public employment service and thoseon fixed term contracts do not apply to professional sport players.
In Portugal, the football players are subject to the same general rights
and obligations as any other employee. However, there are certain laws which
exclusively address the football players’ status because they have peculiar working
times and conditions. Moreover, unlike all other employees, they can be transferred
to another employer [club] in exchange for a fee. Unique to these laws is also thefact that players and clubs have their own dispute resolution bodies and systems,
although they are also entitled to their constitutional rights to seek redress before
the ordinary courts.
In Swiss law, there are no special statutory sources to regulate employment
relationships with football players and other athletes. The Swiss labour law rules
cover the athletes’ employment agreements. This legal system is more liberal andrelatively less protective for workers. Nevertheless, Swiss law provides a sophisticatedsocial security system to which all professional athletes can contribute and benefit
from.
The French Code du Sport provides a certain number of basic provisions
on the employment relationship.

458

Michele Colucci and Frank Hendricks

However, the status of professional footballers is also covered by collective
bargaining agreements. In particular, the Professional Football Charter, together
with the French national collective agreement on Sport, is the main collective
bargaining agreement in football. . As a consequence, professional footballers havea hybrid status subject to the Code de Travail and certain provisions which arevery specific to their profession.
The Spanish legal system defines the athletes as being “special employees”
who professionally practice a sporting activity under the direction of their employers(clubs, sport associations, etc.) and the specificity of their employment relationshipis regulated by the Royal Decree 1006/1985.
Equally in Mexico, players fall into a category of special employment in
the labour law. The labour code has a chapter on “Professional Athletes”, which
nevertheless must comply with the general principles of the labour law.
3.

Specific sports acts or football acts

A number of countries have adopted acts focused on sports professionals or, more
specifically, on football. Due to the needs of the sector, specific rules and regulations
have been adopted to address either the sports professional issues in general or the
football situation in particular.
Noteworthy is the so-called Pelé Law (1998) of Brazil. The Pelé Law(Law nº 9.615/98, amended by the Law nº 12.395/11) applies exclusively to football,which is the only professional sport in Brazil.
For Portugal, we should mention the “Law on Professional Sports
Employment Contracts”, which establishes the legal framework governing theemployment contracts of professional sports people as well as training contracts
for the education and training of young sportsmen (amateurs and/or minors). It
also establishes the maximum and minimum terms of contracts, the rights andobligations of the contracting parties, includes disciplinary issues, and makes
provision regarding loans and transfers, termination of contracts and compensation
criteria. There is also a Law of Physical Activity and Sport, which contains provisions
for the resolution of sporting matters in the strict sense, meaning that they arebased on technical or disciplinary rules of the game.
In Belgium, there is something similar. There is the Act of 24 February
1978 concerning employment contracts for sports professionals (the Sports
Professionals Act). Sports professionals are defined as those persons who undertaketo prepare themselves for, or take part in, a competition or sports spectator event
under the authority of another person in return for remuneration exceeding a certain
level or threshold. The Sports Professionals Act applies to professional football
players whose annual gross remuneration is higher than a certain threshold, as
determined by Royal Decree on a yearly basis. It should be noted that, the socalled Dahmane case has triggered quite some debate in the football world and the
public media. It concerns a case of the Labour Court of Antwerp, who decided on

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