The Agents Angle’s Post

Unlike that restless kid constantly asking the question from the back seat, you’d be forgiven for wondering whether we’re “there yet” with the (now not-so-new) FIFA Football Agent Regulations (the FFAR). The short answer is in the name - seemingly, pretty ffar. In this piece for Football Legal, I discuss legal challenges the new regulatory regime has faced in: ⚽️⚖️ 🇨🇭the Court of Arbitration for Sport 🇩🇪 Germany 🇪🇸 Spain 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England …touching also upon the position in Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Brazil. Looks like we’re still some distance away from a full implementation by FIFA. All eyes on the European courts over the next few months (year?)… #SportsLaw

Extremely interesting ruling of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) today! In the case, C-650/22 (Diarra vs. FIFA), the CJEU held that the current FIFA rules are contrary to European Union (EU) law. Currently, FIFA's Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) stipulate that a player who terminates a contract before its term without just cause is liable to pay compensation to the club, and where the player joins a new club, they will be joint and severally liable for the payment of compensation. According to CJEU, these rules are impeding the free movement of players and are designed to be anti-competitive. Now, it is even more interesting to see how said ruling will influence the entire football market and the transfer system as we know it today! #sportslawyer #footballlaw

Petros C. Mavroidis (Columbia University) and Damien Neven (Geneva Graduate Institute) published an Insight titled: "Legitimate Objectives in Antitrust Analysis: The FIFA Regulation of Agents and the Right to Regulate Football in Europe" in #Concurrences 1-2024. Read more here: https://shorturl.at/lqxHR This article explores the regulatory framework of FIFA concerning football agents and its compatibility with antitrust laws in Europe. It highlights the delicate balance required between regulatory control and fostering fair competition within the football industry. #competitionlaw #antitrust #antitrustlaw #droitdelaconcurrence #DireitoDaConcorrencia #DerechoDeLaCompetencia #concurrence #sportregulation #fifaregulation #sportslaw #europeancompetitionlaw

Big news today from the Court of Justice of the European Union: they've ruled that certain FIFA rules on the international transfer of professional footballers are in violation of EU law. The court found that these regulations restrict the free movement of players who want to move to a new club and continue building their careers. If you're interested in how this decision could shape the football transfer market, my colleague Vuk Leković and I published an article earlier this year that dives deeper into this very topic. Feel free to check it out (link in the comments). #ECJ #FIFA

In our latest article, our Football Team explores the ground-breaking CJEU decision in the Lassana Diarra case and considers its potential impact for players, clubs, and agents. The court accepted that “ensuring the regularity of club football competitions” and “maintaining a certain degree of stability” in clubs’ squads are legitimate objectives.   However, it held that certain provisions of FIFA’s transfer rules disproportionately restrict players’ freedom of movement and clubs’ ability to compete with each other for players’ services, within the EU.    Is this Bosman 2.0? The full article is available here: https://bit.ly/4eQCr6E

SUSPENSION OF ALL PENDING CASES BEFORE THE FIFA DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE. Football governing, FIFA, has announced the suspension of all pending cases before its Disciplinary Committee with immediate effect. This announcement is not unconnected to the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Lassana Diarra's matter and the ongoing global dialogue initiated by the governing body which would possibly engineer changes on the RSTP. Interesting days ahead as to the extent and nature of the alterations that might be effected on the RSTP. #FootballLaw #FootballLawyer #SportsLawyer #FIFA

UK football governance legislation has been laid before lawmakers today (24/10/2024), with a revamped bill addressing a range of matters including governance of club ownership and breakaway leagues. Amid earlier criticism from football’s governing body in Europe over political interference, the latest text has removed a requirement for a planned independent football regulator to consider government foreign policy when making decisions about club takeovers. To learn how MLex is reporting on a variety of #Football topics affecting FIFA, English Premier League and other international leagues, including: - Antitrust - FIFA's transfer rules - Lassana Diarra - Preliminary-ruling request (EU) - Antitrust - FIFA - RRC Sports - Football agents’ rules (EU) -Antitrust - FIFA - match calendar - Antitrust - European Super League - Real Madrid - UEFA (EU) Arrange a meeting with me by phone or email. Phone: 07552 882 850 Email: nicholas.mitchell@lexisnexis.co.uk

⚽️ What’s next for the football world after the #Diarra ruling? See our latest webinar and find out. On 4 October, the Court of Justice of the EU (#CJEU) issued a groundbreaking decision questioning FIFA’s player transfer rules and their compatibility with #EUlaw. With over 21,000 international transfers generating $9.63 billion in fees in 2023, this ruling has the potential to reshape football’s global transfer market. 📺 Watch the webinar recording featuring Antoine Duval, Stefan Szymanski, and Marjolaine Viret for expert insights on what lies ahead. 👉 https://lnkd.in/eS9jQhX4 #SportsLaw #FIFA #RSTP

Per Karlsson was speaking on two panels at International Competition Network (ICN) Cartel Workshop in Mexico City last week. Big thanks to Konkurrensverket and Cofece for the opportunity! On the second panel he talked about Sports and EU Competition law. See an excerpt of his presentation. On Friday 4 Oct CJEU published another interesting preliminary ruling in a new football case regarding contract rules for football players. The case is rather technical but again FIFA has to adjust their rules, due to EU case law from Luxembourg. #antitrust #competition #konkurrensverket

One of the amendments that is added to FIFA 2024 statutes is para. 3 of Article 49 of the statutes in which FIFA is obliged to publish the Court of Arbitration for Sport awards concerning FIFA, which was not provided in the previous edition (Art 56). Now, that is a practical step to put an obligation upon FIFA to publish the CAS decisions, which is useful for academics and sports lawyers to have better access to the cases since the CAS website has not properly published all of the decisions in recent years. Here is the link for the new edition: https://lnkd.in/dAf6CcxY