Official Journal of the European Union

C series

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C/2025/876

17.2.2025

(Case C-650/22,

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Internal market - Competition - Rules introduced by an international sports association and implemented by that association with the assistance of its members - Professional football - Private law entities vested with regulatory and control powers, and the power to impose sanctions - Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players - Regulations relating to the employment contracts concluded between clubs and players - Early termination of an employment contract by the player - Player required to pay compensation - Joint and several liability of the new club - Sanctions - Prohibition on issuing and registering the player’s International Transfer Certificate while a dispute relating to the early termination of the employment contract is pending - Prohibition of registration of other players - Article 45 TFEU - Restriction on the freedom of movement of workers - Justification - Article 101 TFEU - Decision by an association of undertakings having as its object the prevention or restriction of competition - Employment market - Recruitment of players by clubs - Market for interclub football competitions - Participation of clubs and players in sporting competitions - Restriction of competition by object - Exemption)

(C/2025/876)

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Fédération internationale de football association (FIFA)

Defendant: BZ

Interveners: Union royale belge des sociétés de football association ASBL (URBSFA), Sporting du Pays de Charleroi SA, Fédération internationale des footballeurs professionnels, Fédération internationale des footballeurs professionnels – Division Europe, Union nationale des footballeurs professionnels (UNFP)

Operative part of the judgment

1.Article 45 TFEU must be interpreted as precluding rules which have been adopted by a private law association whose objectives include, inter alia, the regulation, organisation and control of football at world level, and which provide:

—first, that a professional player who is party to an employment contract and is deemed to have terminated that contract without just cause, and the new club which employs him or her following that termination, are to be jointly and severally liable for payment of compensation due to the former club for which the player worked, to be determined on the basis of criteria which are sometimes imprecise or discretionary, sometimes lacking in any objective connection with the employment relationship concerned and sometimes disproportionate;

—second, that, where the employment of the professional player occurs during a protected period under the employment contract which has been terminated, the new club is to incur a sporting sanction consisting in a ban on registering new players during a specific period, unless it demonstrates that it did not induce the player to breach that contract; and

—third, that the existence of a dispute relating to that breach of contract is to prevent the national football association of which the former club is a member from issuing the ITC necessary for that player to be registered at the new club, with the consequence that the player cannot participate in football competitions for the new club; unless it is established that those rules, as interpreted and applied on the territory of the European Union, do not go beyond what is necessary for the pursuit of the objective consisting in ensuring the regularity of interclub football competitions, while maintaining a certain degree of stability in the player rosters of the professional football clubs.

2.Article 101 TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that such rules constitute a decision by an association of undertakings which is prohibited by paragraph 1 of that article and which cannot be exempted under paragraph 3 of that article unless it is demonstrated, through convincing arguments and evidence, that all of the conditions required for that purpose are satisfied.

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Language of the case: French

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/876/oj

ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)

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