Association Football Contracts
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Association football contracts are the legal contracts for both amateur and professional
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
. Football contracts overlaps substantially with
contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
,
tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
and
labour law Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...
. Issues like
defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
,
privacy rights The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 150 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. On 10 December 194 ...
and
intellectual property law Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
are also an integral aspect of football contracts. This area has been subject to a number of controversies since the 1990s (see the
Bosman ruling ''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of association ...
and the
Webster ruling The Webster ruling is a test case in association football law involving Andy Webster, a defender formerly with Heart of Midlothian football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. In September 2006 he became the first player to exploit the updated trans ...
). These cases have coincided with the rebalancing of player power and increased media scrutiny and commercialisation of football.


Labor law: Association Football Contracts

Labor law has always been an extremely important determinant of association football contracts. The way countries classify labor done by football players is essential to many aspects of the football players' contract. In the 21st century we have seen some shifts in the nature of labor classification in football. In some countries football players are classified as service providers rather than employees. Bulgaria is an example of this, in November, 2005, during a conference in Sofia it was confirmed that the country would shift football players to persons providing a service. As a result, clubs do not have to pay for employee benefits previously afforded to players under the old classification.


Financial issues: Association Football Contracts

One of the most important issues of modern day contract negotiations is a club's valuation of players. Along with this following accounting principles set out by respective governing bodies is really important in setting out the terms of a contract. Following these guidelines and rules has become a huge issue especially when the duration of some contracts is longer than the required duration for certain accounting practices required. With the increase in private investment in the sport this continues to be an issue.


Contracts and psychology

There are a multitude of possible psychological effects of signing contracts among players. Signing contracts has different effects on players who play differently and evaluating those effects has become a topic for debate among sport scientists. Defenders' performances are often found to be better once they sign a new contract while midfielders and attackers see mixed reviews. Young players also see the effects of signing a contract with physical attributes, the added pressure seems to impact them positively leading to increased physical attributes in the short term after signing a professional contract.


See also

* ''Eastham v. Newcastle United'', a similar 1963 court case in England *
Seitz decision The Seitz decision was a ruling by arbitration, arbitrator Peter Seitz (1905–1983) on December 23, 1975, which declared that Major League Baseball (MLB) players became free agents upon playing one year for their team without a contract, effectiv ...
, a similar 1975
arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...
case in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
*
Kolpak ruling The ''Kolpak'' ruling is a European Court of Justice ruling handed down on 8 May 2003 in favour of Maroš Kolpak, a Slovak handball player. It declared that citizens of countries which have signed European Union Association Agreements have the s ...
, which extended Bosman to countries with an associate trading relationship with the EU, most notably the
ACP countries The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group o ...


References

Sports law
Contracts A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
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