Players' Agents Worldwide: Legal Aspects.

Blackshaw, Ian

Players' Agents Worldwide: Legal Aspects

Edited by R.C.R. Siekmann, R. Parrish, R. Branco Martins and J.W. Soek, TMC Asser Press, The Hague, The Netherlands 2007, Pages 872 + XXIX, ISBN 978-90-6704-245-1 , Price GBP 95.00

Football is not only the world's favourite game but is also the world's most lucrative sport. They say that 'money is the root of all evil' and football certainly has its share of problems resulting from the mega sums that can be made on and off the field of play. In the United Kingdom, for example, we have now entered the age when many players earn well over 100,000 [pounds sterling] per week in the English FA Premier League. Not only do players command high salaries, but the sale of broadcasting rights brings in stratospheric sums to the Clubs. For example, the English Premier Football League, the richest in the world, recently sold its principal broadcast rights to its matches for the next three seasons, beginning in August 2007 and ending in 2010, for a record sum of US$3.1bn (1.7bn [pounds sterling]). Football Clubs also gain from the mega sums paid for the transfer of high profile players from one club to another. Most of these transfers are handled by players' agents, who themselves have also become multi millionaires in the process. However, players' agents have not been having a good press in recent times and a BBC Panorama Programme has branded football as being 'institutionally corrupt', largely as a result of the activities of players' agents, which, to say the least, have not always been very professional or ethical, for example, in the matter of dual representation. Many of them have been involved in conflicts of interests' situations, for example, acting at the same time for clubs and players or both clubs involved in the same transaction.

This new Book--a truly magnum opus taking a global view of the subject --could not be more timely, dealing, as it does, with three basic questions: what are players' agents?; why should they be regulated?; and how should they be regulated? The Book covers the legal regulations--at the international, national and sports bodies' levels--in forty countries around the world, including the major footballing constituencies, such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Russia, and the socalled 'Big Five' in Europe: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

But, as Professor Roger Blanpain of the Universities of Leuven (Belgium) and Tilburg (The Netherlands), the very first President of FIFPRO, the international professional players' association, points out in a Foreword to the Book, the issue of regulation in any sport "is always a delicate one." And goes on to remark that:

"[o]ver-regulation can do as much harm as under-regulation: it is always a matter of striking the right balance between the two.... [but] it is generally agreed that certain minimum norms and standards of behaviour by players' agents must be met to protect the integrity of football and all those with a stake and interest in its future, including players, clubs and fans alike."

As the Book shows, the levels and nature of regulation of players' agents vary from country to country.

The Book opens with three introductory chapters which help to put the subject into its proper context: 'Regulating Players' Agents: A Global Perspective'; 'The International Supply of Sports Agent Services'; and 'The Laurent Piau Case of the ECJ on the Status of Players' Agents'. In the important Piau case (Case T-193/02, Laurent Piau v. Commission of the European Commission supported by FIFA, Jur EG 2005, p. II-0029, no. 8) (the full text of the decision is set out in one of the Annexes to the Book), Laurent Piau, a French Players' Agent unsuccessfully challenged the legality of the FIFA Players' Agents Regulations (set out in one of the Annexes to the Book) under EU Competition Law. The European Court of Justice upheld the decision of the Court of First Instance (CFI), on the rule-making authority of FIFA and the compatibility of the FIFA Players' Agents Regulations with Article 82 of the EC Treaty. The CFI concluded as follows:

".... the need to introduce professionalism and morality to the occupation of players' agent in order to protect players whose careers are short, the fact that competition is not eliminated by the licence system, the almost general absence (except in France) of national rules, and the lack of a collective organisation of players' agents, are circumstances which justify the rule-making action on the part of FIFA."

And on the question of a possible abuse of a dominant position by FIFA, the CFI had this to say:

"The Court of First Instance disagrees with the Commission and considers that FIFA, which constitutes an emanation of the clubs, thereby holds a dominant position in the market for the services of players' agents. Nevertheless, the FIFA regulations do not impose quantitative restrictions on access to the occupation of players' agent which harm competition, but qualitative restrictions which may be justified, and do not therefore constitute an abuse of FIFA's dominant position on that market."

But, as is pointed out in the Book, the outcome of the Piau case does not lead to the legal certainty desired in the European professional football sector; and the decision was not challenged under EU free movement of services principle (Article 49 of the EC Treaty) and, therefore, a real threat remains to the legality of the FIFA Players' Agents Regulations. Furthermore, the CFI are factually wrong when they say that there are no national laws regulating the profession of players' agents, when, in fact, 10 EU Member States have specific legislation dealing with the activities of players' agents.

The Book then continues with the Country Reports and is completed with some useful Annexes (already referred to), and Tables of Treaties, National Legislation and Regulations of Sports Organisations and also of Cases. There is a workmanlike Index and also a helpful List of Abbreviations and Acronyms used in the text.

This Book is the latest publication in the Asser International Sports Law Series. All the contributors to the Book are experts in the field of international sports law in general and players' agents in particular.

All in all, this Book will, I am sure, prove to be a useful and valuable resource for commercial, financial and legal advisers, players' agents, who are now facing strict exams in order to qualify as official FIFA agents, as well as all others involved in sports administration and management, including managers and coaches of football clubs around the world.

For, as the legendary Liverpool Football Club Manager, Bill Shankley, once remarked, when asked if football was a matter of life and death: 'it is more important than that!'