The Tondela Judgment: the CJEU Clarifies the Treatment of No-Poach Agreements in Professional Football

CJEU, 30 April 2026, Case C‑133/24, CD Tondela – Futebol, SAD e.a. c. Autoridade da Concorrência

Date of the decision: 2026-04-30

On 30 April 2026, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered an important judgment on the application of competition law to labour markets in professional football. In CD Tondela, the Court examined an agreement concluded in Portugal during the Covid-19 pandemic, under which clubs in the first and second divisions undertook not to recruit certain players who had unilaterally terminated their contracts by relying on difficulties caused by the health crisis or on exceptional decisions adopted as a result, including the extension of the sporting season.

An agreement adopted after the suspension of the season

The case arose in spring 2020. Following the measures adopted in response to the pandemic, the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional suspended the 2019/2020 season indefinitely, with ten matchdays still to be played in the Portuguese first and second divisions.

Against that background, first-division clubs, followed by a number of second-division clubs, announced that no club would sign a player who had unilaterally terminated his employment contract by invoking difficulties caused by the pandemic or by any exceptional decision linked to it. The agreement therefore directly affected the possibility for a player to leave one club and then be recruited by another club participating in the same championships.

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