The international sports world has a unique labor system compared to probably all other branches of business.
As the most natural thing, sports medias and fans refer to a new signing of a player as “a sale” or “a transfer”, which would be a peculiar choice of word for any other “normal” employee changing his workplace. But in the world of sports a licensee system has been maintained for decades for a club to “purchase” the license rights to a player from another club, when the contract is valid. Without such a license, the player would not be able to offer his services to any new club.
The Bosman ruling from the European Court of Justice in 1995 initiated the present labor sports system in Europe, and since then many complex rules on transfers and rental of players have been developed in all sports along with training compensation rules, protection of minors in connection with international transfers and compensation payment in case of a breach of contract. All of this, due to the influence of EU-law on European sports and the unique sports labor traditions.
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SPORTS CONTRACTS
All European sports contracts that involve employment or rental of players are thus today subject to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice as well as the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which in football settles disputes arising out of the FIFA’ Regulations on the Status and Transfers of Players.
For the last 25 years I have been advising on many EU-related aspects of labor contracts in the sports world, in particular free movement of labor and competition law. As a CAS arbitrator from 2004 I have participated in numerous cases regarding labor sports contracts and the FIFA Regulations. I am considered one of the most experienced legal scholars in Denmark, when it comes to EU-related issues in sports.