Alkis Papantoniou Law Office

⚖ ⚽ On our website you can find a briefing on CAS 2023/A/9938, the first CAS award concerning the FIFA Football Agents licensing requirements. Our Greek readers can find the link to the Greek version of the article, in the first comment 👇

 🏆 ⚖ Some weeks after the end of the EURO 2024, and following the issuance of the decisions of the UEFA Disciplinary Committee regarding disciplinary violations that took place during the competition, AP Sports Law presents some interesting facts from the disciplinary "overview" of EURO 2024: 💸The total amount of financial sanctions imposed on the Clubs was equal to EUR 1,801,000.  💸Group Stage Matchday 3 was the most "indiscipline". Total fines of EUR 584,250 were imposed.  🔷 Serbia was the team that faced the highest fine: EUR 68,625 for the infringement of throwing of objects during their 2nd Group Stage Match against Slovenia.  🔶 Turkey was the country that faced the most sanctions (17) and also was the frontrunner on the total financial sanctions equal to EUR 197,375.   🔷Italy was the team with the fewest sanctions: only 1 sanction for a violation in the match against Croatia, for which they faced a fine of EUR 30,000.   🔶The hosts, Germany, were punished in 9 cases, facing 3 warnings and 6 financial sanctions equal to EUR 44,250. Half of these financial sanctions related to their obligations as organisers and concerned failures regarding the order and safety in matches, as well as the protection of the playing area.  🔷The match of the 3rd Matchday of the Group Stage, between Czech Republic and Turkey was the match with the most violations: 9.   🔶The throwing of objects was the most "popular" charge and was punished on 38 occasions, while the lighting of fireworks on 32. 🔎 Finally, an investigation was opened in 6 instances regarding racist and/or discriminatory behaviour while fines were imposed in 7 instances against Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Romania, Austria and Albania. The total amount of fines was equal to EUR 220,000. You can access this overview on our website 👇 https://lnkd.in/d35FC_Fv

⚖ CAS 2023/A/9682 is a recently published award with important considerations regarding the FIFA Clearing House Regulation and the EPP Review Process. ❓ The main question was whether the FIFA General Secretariat shall be compelled to consider the waivers in the context of the Appeal proceedings and whether the new club can remedy its omission to upload them. 👇 On our website you can find a case brief, focusing on the considerations of the Sole Arbitrator on this questions, along with the main takeaways from the award. 🔗 For our Greek readers, you can find a link to the Greek translation of our blog in the first comment.

💡 Some interesting observations arising from CAS 2022/A/8621.

⚖ We successfully represented a Greek football club before the FIFA DRC. The dispute related to the claim of a Player for alleged overdue payables from his employment contract. 🔷 The main issues examined by the FIFA DRC were the following: (a) The nature of the payments not specifically defined in the employment contract. (b) Whether these payments were payable during the suspension of the employment contract with the Club (during the loan transfer of the Player?) (c) The validity of a waiver of a specific payment, signed by the Player as part of the Loan Agreement (for an amount that was payable on the day of signing of the loan agreement). 💡 This was an interesting case with jurisprudential value. The full commentary can be found on our website below. 👇 *For our Greek readers, the link to the Greek publication is posted in the comments.

⚖ An important award was recently issued by CAS, on the appeal of Ms Halep against the first instance decision of the ITF Independent Tribunal, which had imposed four years of ineligibility on the famous tennis player (CAS 2023/A/10025 and CAS 2023/A/10227 Simona Halep v. ITIA). On our website, you can find the major points arising from the CAS Media Release. 👇

RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF CAS AWARD IN GREEK NATIONAL CIVIL COURT 🤝 AP Sports Law Office successfully represented a foreign football agent before the National Civil Courts, in a dispute with a football player in relation to the recognition and enforcement of a CAS award in Greece, which awarded him outstanding service fees, arbitration costs and legal fees. 📝 The parties had signed an “Exclusive Mandate”, but the Player negotiated, and eventually signed, a contract with a Club from that country, without using the services of the Agent. 👨⚖️ The Agent submitted a claim to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). CAS held that under a strict interpretation of the signed “Exclusive Mandate”, the participation of the Agent in the negotiations and the conclusion of the Agreement was in order for the Agent to be entitled to his agency fee, as the parties were bound by their agreement under the principle of pacta sunt servanda. In any event, he played an important role in completing the transfer, having previously recommended the Player to the Club. ⚖ In the application for the recognition and enforcement of the CAS Award in Greece that we filed, the Court held: ✔ The authority of the national Court is limited to finding whether the conditions for declaring the foreign arbitral award enforceable are met. ✔In any case, if the foreign arbitral award was affected by legal and/or substantive errors under foreign law, these errors could be remedied by appealing the CAS award before the competent foreign court. ✔The amounts awarded as a contractual penalty are not contrary to Greek public policy, since in Greek law the contractual penalties are not contrary to the fundamental moral, social and economic perceptions that prevail in Greece. 👉 Check for more: https://lnkd.in/djxPZM9a

Some useful clarifications about the validity of waivers, under the jurisprudence of the FIFA Football Tribunal and CAS. An interesting reading for both sports lawyers and professionals. The Greek version is available here: https://lnkd.in/dgNts_5G

📢 FIFA has published the 2023 edition of the Global Transfer Report. 📊 Some interesting facts showing the pivotal role of global transfer system in evolution of the world of football: MEN 📈 A record of 4,971 clubs representing 180 of FIFA’s 211 member associations and all six confederations – were involved in the 21,801 transfers, showcasing the wide and diverse range of clubs participating in international transfers. 💰 Clubs spent a new record high amount on international transfer fees in 2023, with their combined outlay reaching a total of USD 9.63 billion, up from 6.50 billion in 2022–an increase of 48.1%. 🤝Permanent transfers with a transfer agreement between the two clubs tend to attract most of the public and media attention, but they typically only represent 15.0% of all transfers. Players moved on loan in 2,691 transfers (12.3% of all transfers). By far the most common transfer type was that of players who moved to a new club abroad while out of contract. There were 14,082 such transfers in 2023, 64.6% of the year’s total. 💸 Sell-on fees are becoming increasingly common in the modern game, especially in transfers that also include a regular transfer fee, 60.0% of which included such a clause in 2023. These clauses are rarer in transfers without a transfer fee, and in 2023 just 28.3% of these transfers included a sell-on fee. There were 2,726 transfers with a sell-on fee in 2023 – a new all-time high and 21.9% more than in 2022. WOMEN 🏅 The impressive growth of women’s professional football also showed no sign of letting up in 2023, with more than 20% more transfers last year compared to 2022. The number of clubs involved in international transfers also rose from 507 in 2022 to 623 in 2023, a 22.9% increase. All of these numbers reflect the huge strides being taken in the women’s game, with more and more female players turning professional. Some 1,888 international transfers of professional players were recorded in 2023, while a new high of 131 associations (+7.4% compared to 2022) were involved in these transfers. https://lnkd.in/drU8aNpe