Given the huge impact of COVID-19 on football, the scope for disputes is obvious. That is particularly the case as the situation faced is entirely novel (at least in modern times), such that it simply has not been legislated for.

Indeed, the degree to which existing football rules and regulations will likely have to be ‘torn up’ is reflected by the FIFA guidelines “COVID-19 Football Regulatory Issues” published on 7 April 2020. Those guidelines call for players’ and coaches’ contracts to be automatically extended until the end of the delayed football season, propose guiding principles which (seemingly) would (in certain cases) allow parties to unilaterally vary employment contracts which “can no longer be performed”, and recommend allowing transfer windows to be altered to be in line with amended season...

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