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Latest FL Journal Articles
29
May
2026
Redefinition of Chilean Professional Football: One Step Away from the Publication of the Reform to Law no. 20,019 - By Luka ILIC & Ignacio TRIGUERO GEA
Over a decade ago, Chilean professional football began to expose a paradox that could no longer be overlooked.
The domestic clubs and the national team accumulated international achievements - with milestones such as Universidad de Chile’s victory in the 2011 Copa Sudamericana, third place at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, competitive campaigns...
29
May
2026
Commentary on the 2026 Chinese Football Association Player Status and Transfer Management Regulations – A Comparative Analysis of the Old and New Versions and FIFA RSTP - By Roy CHU & David WU
More than a decade after the previous edition, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) officially released the revised Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players of the Chinese Football Association (New CFA RSTP) on 24 February 2026. This article sets out the principal amendments introduced by the New CFA RSTP and, with reference to the FI...
29
May
2026
A Player’s Reaction to Crowd Misconduct May Still Constitute a Violation Leading to Disciplinary Sanctions and Liability - By Aspa SOULOUKOU
Permanent Committee for the Prevention of Violence of the Greek Ministry of Sports, 10 February 2026, no. 12/2026
Following the football match between AEK FC (AEK) and Olympiacos FC for the Superleague 2025-2026 season, which took place on 1 February 2026 at AEK’s home field, incidents occurred immediately after the end of the match. More specifically, supporters of the home team threw plastic bottles and an umbrella at the players of the visiting team as t...
29
May
2026
Negligent Conduct Lacking Intent Cannot be Classified as an Act of Sports Violence - By Aspa SOULOUKOU
Permanent Committee for the Prevention of Violence of the Greek Ministry of Sports, 14 October 2025, no. 30/2025
During the football match between AE Kifisia and AEK FC (AEK) for the Superleague 2025-2026 season, which took place on 5 October 2025 at the Municipal Stadium of Peristeri, an incident occurred before the end of the match. Right after the third goal scored by AEK around the 90th minute of the game, the owner of AEK, while celebrating the goal o...
29
May
2026
Artificial Intelligence Practice: A Practical Guide for Sports Lawyers - By Georgi GRADEV & Marton KISS
Artificial intelligence is now part of everyday legal work. For sports lawyers, it can help summarize documents, extract clauses, produce first drafts, compare versions, translate, prepare chronologies and identify inconsistencies. Its value lies in speed, structure and disciplined verification. The value of counsel lies elsewhere: case th...
29
May
2026
Unilateral Extension Options in Football Contracts – Finding the Right Balance Between Contractual Stability and Player Freedom - BY Mert KILIK
Abstract
Unilateral extension options in favour of clubs remain one of the most debated issues in football employment law. FIFA RSTP do not contain a general rule automatically prohibiting these clauses. Instead, the issue has largely been shaped by the case-law of the FIFA DRC and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Recent CAS jurisprudence co...
29
May
2026
Violence in the Dressing Room and Contractual Stability: The Training-Ground Incidents at Santos FC and Real Madrid CF and their Legal Implications under International Sports Law
This article examines two recent episodes of physical conflict that took place during training sessions at Santos FC - involving Neymar Jr. and the young Robinho Jr. - and at Real Madrid - between Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni, establishing a parallel with the international legal framework governing contractual relations between...
29
May
2026
Verbal Misconduct of a Club Official May Lead to Partial Disciplinary Sanctions - By Aspa SOULOUKOU
Single Judge Disciplinary Body of the Super League, no. 41/6-2-2026; HFF Disciplinary Body, 20 February 2026
Right after the end of the match between AEK FC (AEK) and Olympiacos FC for the Superleague 2025-2026 season, which took place on 1 February 2026 at AEK’s home field, the owner of AEK reacted intensely after the 90+14th minute, when the referee awarded a penalty in favor of the visiting team, which was converted into an equalizing goal, bringing...
29
May
2026
Boavista Futebol Clube – From its Incorporation to Liquidation - By João NOGUEIRA DA ROCHA
Boavista Futebol Clube incorporated its Sports Public Limited Company (Sociedade Anónima Desportiva - SAD) on 31 August 2000, within the broader framework of the professionalisation and corporatisation of professional football in Portugal, under the corporate name “Boavista Futebol Clube, Futebol SAD”. Since its incorporation, the company has fo...
29
May
2026
Key Amendments to the Main Regulations of the Football Union of Russia - By Eugene KRECHETOV
At the end of 2025, the Bureau of the Executive Committee of the Football Union of Russia (FUR) approved amendments to its core regulations. The most significant changes are outlined below.
FUR Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players
Possibility of Simultaneous Registration with two Clubs in Different Disciplines
It is established t...
29
May
2026
The Valverde-Tchouaméni Incident - By Juan de Dios CRESPO PÉREZ, Guillermo JIMÉNEZ QUIRÓS & Daniel LÓPEZ GÓMEZ
The altercation between Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni at Valdebebas[1] training ground on 7 May 2026,[2] and the resolution within less than 24 hours of the disciplinary proceedings resulting in a fine of EUR 500,000 for each player, constitute a case of extraordinary legal interest. This article analyses the regulatory framework gov...
29
May
2026
Impact of Club-Led Player Registration and an Exceptional Cap on Transferred Players in Vanuatu’s New Professional League - By Peter PALEOLOGOS
Vanuatu’s football underwent a major shift toward professionalisation in 2026. The Vanuatu Football Federation (VFF), together with private interests, established Vanuatu FC, which joined the inaugural Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Professional League (which started in January 2026), making it the country’s first professional sports club....
29
May
2026
SFT 4A_324/2025, 20 January 2026 - By Jorge IBARROLA
SFT 4A_324/2025, 20 January 2026
Facts of the Case
Football club A. (Club), affiliated with the Russian Football Federation and FIFA, entered into an employment agreement with B. (Player) on 22 December 2021 for a fixed-term contract ending on 30 June 2025. The contract provided that, in the event of termination without just cause by the Player, the latter would be required...
29
May
2026
The Validity of Liquidated Damages Clauses under the RSTP in Conjunction with Swiss Law - By Georgi GRADEV & Jakob ŠTRASNER
CAS 2024/A/10666 Vedran Naglić v. Al Shabab Football Club
[1]
A clause limiting compensation for unjustified termination to three monthly salaries did not, on the facts of this case, displace the default regime under the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (Ed 2023) and Swiss Law. The Sole Arbitrator treated the clause as regulating the financial consequences of termination, n...
29
May
2026
Social Media as an Identity Carrier in Sporting Succession - By David MIKHAIL
CAS 2024/A/10783 Shaanxi Union Football Club v. Moses Ogbu
Introduction
Sporting succession has long been one of the most fact-sensitive and controversial doctrines in international football disputes. The concept itself is simple. When one club disappears and another emerges, the new club may be required to assume the debts and obligations of the former if it is considered, in substance, the same sp...
29
May
2026
Benefits in Kind and the Limits of Bad-Faith Allegations in Mitigation - By Georgi GRADEV & Yavor PETKOV
CAS 2025/A/11025 FC Partizan v. Ericksson Patrick Correia Andrade
[1]
For the purposes of mitigation under Article 17.1 ii) of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (Ed February), contractually guaranteed monetary housing and car allowances formed part of the player’s remuneration. They had to be deducted from the residual value of the terminated contract as mitigation. By contrast, al...
29
May
2026
Solidarity: A Key Driver Towards Sustainable Professional Football - By Jean-François BROCARD & Christophe LEPETIT
Football’s transfer system has long been defended by reference to its redistributive function. Jean-François Brocard and Christophe Lepetit examine whether existing solidarity mechanisms still meet that objective in an increasingly financialised football economy. Distinguishing between horizontal and vertical solidarity, they argue that the curr...
22
May
2026
Three Reasons (Not) to Preserve Football’s Transfer System - By Thomas PEETERS
In this contribution, Thomas Peeters asks whether football still needs a transfer system after Diarra, and if so, what it should be designed to achieve. Focusing on youth training, financial solidarity and talent discovery, he argues that the pre-Diarra model responded to real economic issues, but in ways that were often inefficient and too rest...
12
May
2026
The End of the ITC? Rethinking the FIFA’s Transfer System after Diarra - By Jacques BLONDIN
In this contribution, Jacques Blondin (SP.IN Law) argues that the Diarra ruling not only reignites the debate on contractual stability but also exposes structural inefficiencies within the transfer process. He revisits the role of the International Transfer Certificate (ITC) and suggests that recent regulatory and technological developments have...
08
May
2026
Seraing and Diarra: Re Anchoring Professional Football in EU Law - By Carlos HURTADO and Romaric FOUSSARD
Rather than presenting Seraing and Diarra as a rupture, Carlos Hurtado and Romaric Foussard (Baker McKenzie) argue that these judgments confirm and extend a long-standing line of EU case-law shaping the governance of professional football. Their contribution examines how EU Law reasserts its primacy over FIFA regulations, clarifies the role of n...
05
May
2026
Beyond the FIFA Transfer System: Rethinking Transnational Redistribution in Football’s Global Eco-System - By Antoine DUVAL
In this contribution, Antoine Duval, Senior Researcher at the Asser Institute, challenges the conventional understanding of the FIFA transfer system by arguing that its primary function is not contractual stability, but transnational economic redistribution across football’s global ecosystem. Building on the implications of the Diarra judgment,...
21
Apr
2026
Players as Workers: Reassessing the Balance between Contractual Stability, Player Mobility and Workers’ Rights - By Maheta MOLANGO & Penri JONES
In this contribution by Maheta Molango, CEO of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), and Penri Jones, Director of Legal at the PFA, the focus shifts to the legal status of players as workers and its implications for the regulation of the football labour market. Against the backdrop of recent CJEU case-law, in particular Diarra, the a...
29
May
2026
Player Mobility, Contractual Stability and the Player Development Rewards Gap in European Football - By Dennis GUDASIC
Written by Dennis Gudasic, General Secretary of the Union of European Clubs (UEC), this contribution to Football Legal’s Series on the re-regulation of the European professional football labour market examines the tension between player mobility, contractual stability and the effectiveness of player development rewards. It highlights the emergen...
15
Apr
2026
Liquidated Damages Clauses After Diarra and the SSDC Resolution - By Mario FLORES CHEMOR
In this contribution to Football Legal’s Series on the re-regulation of the European professional football labour market, Mario Flores Chemor examines the evolving role of liquidated damages clauses in the post-Diarra framework. He highlights the divergences between FIFA and CAS approaches and questions whether a restrictive proportionality test...
29
May
2026
A Long Walk in the Dark Towards the Light - By Franco BALDINI
By Franco Baldini
Former professional football player and former technical director of Tottenham Hotspur
Member of the Board of the Justice for Players foundation[1]