- Football Legal # 23
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- Football Legal # 21
- Football Legal # 20
- Football Legal # 19
- Football Legal # 18
- Football Legal # 17
- Football Legal # 16
- Football Legal # 15
- Football Legal # 14
- Football Legal # 13
- Football Legal # 12
- Football Legal # 11
- Football Legal # 10
- Football Legal # 9
- Football Legal # 8
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- Football Legal # 6
- Football Legal # 5
- Football Legal # 4
- Football Legal # 3
- Football Legal # 2
- Football Legal # 1
Latest FL Journal Articles
02
Dec
2025
Editorial of Football Legal # 23 (2025/2) - By Ronan DAVID
Every new edition of Football Legal is an opportunity to step back and observe how the legal architecture of football continues to evolve. When the first issue appeared in 2014, the landscape was already complex. Eleven years later, the pace of change has only increased, and the role of law – whether EU Law, arbitration, national labour rules or...
28
Nov
2025
Revised Rules for Football Disputes in China: A Practical Guide to Judicial Interpretation (II) for Foreign Professionals - By Xi ZHIWEN
China Supreme People’s Court, 31 July 2025, no. 12 [2025], Judicial Interpretation (II) on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Labor Dispute Cases
China’s new Judicial Interpretation (II) significantly changes the legal risks for football clubs that hire foreign professionals. It provides a strong domestic remedy for support staff (such as fitness coaches and team doctors) who do not have standing before FIFA, while increasing the consequences of wrongful termination by making reinstateme...
28
Nov
2025
First Test at the CAS for FIFA’s Regulation of Multi-Club Ownership - By Saverio P. SPERA
TAS 2025/A/11314 Club de Fútbol Pachuca c. FIFA & TAS 2025/A/11315 Club León c. FIFA & TAS 2025/A/11316 Club León c. FIFA
Introduction
Multi-Club Ownership (MCO) appeared on the scene of international football more than 30 years ago and, since then, has been discussed from a sporting, economic and legal (EU Law included) perspective.[1] Over the last decade, the phenomenon has grown in intensity and scope in parallel with the exponential growth of football commerc...
28
Nov
2025
Strict Liability of Club’s Reaffirmed in UEFA Competitions - By Georgi GRADEV & Jakob ŠTRASNER
CAS 2023/A/10223 NK Olimpija Ljubljana v. UEFA
Supporter misconduct, however minor, continues to trigger UEFA’s strict liability regime. In NK Olimpija Ljubljana v. UEFA (CAS 2023/A/10223), CAS upheld sanctions for objects thrown onto the pitch, reaffirming that clubs bear responsibility regardless of fault or harm, while applying the lex mitior principle to annul a secondary fine unde...
28
Nov
2025
CAS 2023/A/10032 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC v. FIFA - By Emily Anne WILLIAMS
CAS 2023/A/10032 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC v. FIFA
This CAS award (Award) was rendered on 9 August 2024, and the Award, with the grounds, was notified on 19 June 2025.[1]
Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (Wolves) filed an appeal against FIFA’s decision to reject the international transfer and registration of a minor player (Player) from Derry City FC (DCFC), a club affiliated with the Football Associ...
28
Nov
2025
The Discretionary Power of the Panel to Order the Production of Additional Evidence in CAS Proceedings - By Luca PASTORE
CAS 2024/A/10551 ESTAC v. Torino FC S.P.A. & FIFA
[1] [2]
The Panel has the power to order the production of evidence ex officio in order to supplement the documents and information available to the deciding body, pursuant to Article R44.3 of the CAS Code. However, such power is discretionary and must be balanced with the burden resting upon each party to substantiate its allegations with c...
28
Nov
2025
State Aid and the Valencian Clubs: The Return of a European Saga - By Carlos MORENO CABALLERO & Tomás REY DELISANTE
The reopening of the cases involving Valencia CF, Hércules CF and Elche CF confirms that the State aid debate in football is far from over.
28
Nov
2025
Application of Annex 7 RSTP in Light of Alleged Renewed Force Majeure - By Georgi GRADEV & Yavor PETKOV
CAS 2024/A/10491 Mathias Antonsen Normann v. FC Dynamo Moscow; CAS 2024/A/10492 FC Dynamo Moscow JSC v. Mathias Antonsen Normann & Al Raed; CAS 2024/A/10493 Al Raed Sport Club v. FC Dynamo Moscow
The Russia-Ukraine conflict, though tense and unstable, does not constitute an unforeseeable or fundamental change, as it was already ongoing at the time of signing and its risks were known and consciously accepted by the Player.
CAS 2024/A/10491 Mathias Antonsen Normann v. FC Dynamo Moscow; CAS 2024/A/10492 FC Dynamo Moscow JSC v. Mathia...
28
Nov
2025
Validity of Sell-On Clauses In the Case of Amateur Players - By Georgi GRADEV & Kaloyan STEFANOV
CAS 2024/A/10839 PFC Botev Plovdiv v. Club Centre de Formation National de Football
A sell-on clause remains enforceable even when the player was an amateur at the time of transfer. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed that such agreements are valid under Swiss contract law and the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, emphasizing party autonomy and the imputation of knowledge to a club thr...
28
Nov
2025
28
Nov
2025
The Impact of the Diarra Decision in Germany - By Joachim RAIN
Introduction
Whilst everybody was very excited - and some also kind of worried - that the Diarra decision might have a dramatic impact on the transfer system and the stability of contracts in Germany, so far, no perceivable consequences for daily business can be observed yet. The following article will analyze the reasons and background for su...
28
Nov
2025
"The adjustments required will focus on specific aspects identified by the ECJ, rather than a wholesale overhaul of the transfer system" - Interview with Emilio GARCIA SILVERO
Interview with Emilio Garcia Silvero, FIFA Chief Legal and Compliance Officer
28
Nov
2025
FIFA’s Regulatory Response since Diarra - By Saverio P. SPERA
Introduction
Few topics have been discussed so intensely in the sports law world as the future of the football transfer market after 4 October 2024. In the immediate aftermath of the Diarra judgment (Judgment), observers were quick to either dismiss its consequences or, more often, claim that the international transfer system as we had known i...
28
Nov
2025
Proving the Absence of Negligence: Lessons from CAS 2024/A/10550 - By Eloi GONZÁLEZ RIOL
CAS 2024/A/10550 AZ Alkmaar v. UEFA
CAS 2024/A/10550 AZ Alkmaar v. UEFA[1]
28
Nov
2025
The Super League Judgment and the Future of European Sports Governance - By Carlos MORENO CABALLERO & Pranav SETHI
Madrid Court of Appeal, 29 October 2025, no. 612/2024
Introduction
In a landmark ruling on 29 October 2025,[1] the Madrid Court of Appeal (Audiencia Provincial) upheld a decision finding UEFA and FIFA guilty of abusing their dominant position and engaging in anticompetitive conduct under EU competition law (Art. 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union - TFEU). In this co...
28
Nov
2025
Recent Jurisprudence on Agents in Germany - By Joachim RAIN
Preliminary Remarks
Specificities in the German Legal Framework
In order to better understand the decisions discussed in this article, it is important to first have an overview of the German legal agents framework and how it deviates from the legal prerequisites in other countries (the following overview is limited to civil and public law requ...
28
Nov
2025
Yet Another Serie A Collective Bargaining Agreement: What Has Changed? - By Andrea BOZZA & Vincenzo CALANDRELLI
Introduction
2 September 2025 was a typical ‘day after’ for the most important European football associations, following the usual frenzy of the summer transfer window.
The same date also marked the beginning of new provisions applicable to employment relationships between clubs (Clubs) affiliated to the Serie A Italian professional league (Le...
28
Nov
2025
The Pedro Rocha Case and What We Can Expect in the Future - By Carlos MORENO CABALLERO & Juan Diego VELARDE BARRIENTOS
Audiencia Nacional, Central Administrative Court no. 2, 29 September 2025, no. 128/2025
Audiencia Nacional, Central Administrative Court no. 2, 29 September 2025, no. 128/2025[1]
28
Nov
2025
Structured Finance in Italian Football - By Federico VENTURI FERRIOLO, Davide VALLI, Luca Alfonso LIBERTI & Nicolò PERI
Regulating Finance in Italian Football
The Italian model of sports governance is increasingly called upon to address complex regulatory challenges related to investment activities and structured finance within the football industry.
In recent years, the financial situation of professional football clubs has been critical, with a few cases of...
28
Nov
2025
Corporate Tools after the TPO Ban: How Brazil’s SAF Framework May Enable Lawful Financing for Player Acquisition and Result Distribution - By André RIBEIRO
Abstract
The prohibition of Third-Party Ownership (TPO) and Third-Party Influence (TPI) under Articles 18ter and 18bis of FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) dismantled an entire financing model that had long sustained Brazilian football. Despite its flaws, TPO provided risk-bearing capital for player acquisition in an...
28
Nov
2025
SAFs: The Brazilian Corporate Model for Football Clubs - By Pedro Paulo FRIZZO GONAÇALVES
This article analyses the implementation of the first Brazilian corporate model specific to football clubs, the “Sociedades Anônimas do Futebol” (SAFs). Even though the debate around creating a corporate model for football clubs is not new, the SAF legislation was promulgated only in 2021. In this sense, this article analyses the historical proc...
28
Nov
2025
The Football Players’ Right of Effective Employment - The Player’s Exclusion from the Group Training and B team Inclusion - By João NOGUEIRA DA ROCHA
There is an increasing number of disputes regarding the violation of the right to effective employment or the right of effective occupation. This can be understood as a violation of the player’s personality rights and the practice of workplace harassment.
In Portugal, with regard to football, the right to effective occupation is of particular i...