Union royale belge des sociétés de football association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman, Royal club liégeois SA v Jean-Marc Bosman and others and Union des associations européennes de football (UEFA) v Jean-Marc Bosman.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:1995:293
• Date: 20 September 1995
• Celex Number: 61993CC0415
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Procedure Type: Reference for a preliminary ruling
• Docket Number: C-415/93

Important legal notice

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61993C0415

Opinion of Mr Advocate General Lenz delivered on 20 September 1995. - Union royale belge des sociétés de football association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman, Royal club liégeois SA v Jean-Marc Bosman and others and Union des associations européennes de football (UEFA) v Jean-Marc Bosman. - Reference for a preliminary ruling: Cour d'appel de Liège - Belgium. - Freedom of movement for workers - Competition rules applicable to undertakings - Professional footballers - Sporting rules on the transfer of players requiring the new club to pay a fee to the old club - Limitation of the number of players having the nationality of other Member States who may be fielded in a match. - Case C-415/93.

European Court reports 1995 Page I-04921

Opinion of the Advocate-General

A - Introduction

I - The problems raised

1 This reference from the Cour d'Appel (Court of Appeal), Liège, for a preliminary ruling raises two questions relating to the compatibility with Community law of certain rules applying in football. The first question concerns the rules which permit a football club, if a player under contract with it moves to another club after that contract has expired, to demand a certain sum of money (the so-called transfer fee) from that club. The second question which has been referred concerns the rules which restrict the access of foreign footballers to the various competitions (the so-called rules on foreign players).

2 I shall first describe the facts which are at the origin of the national proceedings and the rules whose compatibility with Community law is at issue in this case. Since the facts of the action pending in the Liège Cour d'Appel can be understood only in the context of those rules, it makes sense to begin by looking at those rules.

II - The organization of football

3 The rules to be discussed here were adopted by private associations. As will be demonstrated, only in a few Member States so far has the national legislature enacted provisions which are of relevance in this field. Since the rules of those associations interlock and are more or less aligned to each other, in order to understand them one must first form a concept of how football is organized.

4 Football as an organized sport is played in clubs which are joined together in associations. As a rule there is a single association in each Member State, which organizes the sport at national level. In Belgium this is the ASBL Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association (hereinafter `URBSFA'). An exception is the United Kingdom, where for historical reasons England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own association.

5 Those associations are joined together worldwide in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (`FIFA'), whose seat is in Zürich, Switzerland. (1) Within FIFA there are several groupings which comprise the associations of a particular continent. One of them is the Union des Associations Européennes de Football (Union of European Football Associations, `UEFA'), whose members are the football associations of Europe. In addition to the 18 associations from the Member States of the EC, a large number of other associations from European countries belong to UEFA. UEFA currently has around 50 members in all. UEFA has inter alia the function of organizing the European Championship for national teams and the European Champions' Cup, European Cup-Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup for club teams. (2) UEFA too has its seat in Switzerland. (3)

III - Transfer rules

1. Belgium

6 Under the URBSFA statutes of 1982, three kinds of relationships are to be distinguished: the player's affiliation to an association (`affiliation'), (4) his affiliation to a club (`affectation') (5) and his entitlement to play (`qualification'). Only a player who is entitled to play may take part in the matches organized by the association. Entitlement to play presupposes that the player belongs to the Belgian association and a Belgian club. A transfer is defined as the process by which a player belonging to the association changes his club affiliation. (6) That definition as such thus covers only changes of club within Belgium, since in the event of a move abroad or to Belgium from abroad the player's affiliation to an association also changes. In the event of a temporary transfer, the player continues to belong to his previous club but is entitled to play for his new club.

7 The association's statutes distinguish between three kinds of transfer: so-called compulsory transfer (`transfert imposé'), so-called free transfer (`transfert libre') and administrative transfer (`transfert administratif'). (7) For a `transfert imposé' the consent of the player and his new club is required, but not that of his former club. A `transfert libre' requires agreement between the player and both clubs involved. `Transfer administratif' is not relevant for the present case. (8)

8 The URBSFA statutes distinguish between a change of clubs by an amateur on the one hand and a change of clubs by a professional or non-amateur player (9) on the other hand. The rules on transfers of amateurs need no further description here. It is, however, important for an understanding of what is stated below that an amateur may change clubs by means of a compulsory transfer, with the new club having to pay a transfer fee of up to BFR 1 000 000. (10)

9 The rules on transfers of professional and non-amateur players may be described as follows. The clubs conclude contracts with those players, in which provision is made in particular for remuneration and minimum bonuses. The terms of those contracts are negotiated, but the association's statutes prescribe certain minimum amounts, for example a fixed monthly amount of at least BFR 30 000 for a professional player. (11) All the contracts, which may run for a period from one year to a maximum of five years, (12) must terminate on a 30 June. (13) Before expiry of the contract - in fact at the latest by 26 April of the year in question - the club must offer the player a new contract. Otherwise the player in question is regarded as an amateur from 1 May on for the purposes of the transfer rules. (14)

The player is free to reject the offer. If he does so, his name is included on a transfer list, which must be transmitted to URBSFA by 30 April at the latest. (15) For players whose names have been put on that list, a compulsory transfer is permissible between 1 May and 31 May. That means that a transfer can take place even without the consent of the old club if the new club pays the old club the transfer fee provided for. The amount of that transfer fee, which is described by the 1982 URBSFA statutes as compensation for training the player (`indemnité de formation'), is calculated by taking the player's gross annual income and multiplying it by a factor from 14 to 2 (for professionals) or from 16 to 4 (for non-amateurs) depending on the player's age. (16) In the case of a professional player aged 25 or 26, for instance, the transfer fee is ten times his gross income.

The `free' transfer period follows, from 1 to 25 June. (17) The transfer fee is negotiated freely. A change of clubs is only possible, however, if the former club and the new club have reached agreement on the amount of that transfer fee. (18) If the fee is not paid, sanctions may be imposed on the club by the association. (19)

If no transfer takes place, the club to which the player belongs must offer him a new contract for one season on the same terms as were offered in April. If the player rejects that offer, the club can until 1 August take measures to suspend him. If it does not do so, the player is automatically reclassed as an amateur. (20) If a suspension has been imposed and still no new contract is concluded or transfer effected, then after two seasons during which he is not allowed to play, the player can have himself transferred as an amateur. (21)

10 Since 1 January 1993 URBSFA has applied a new transfer system. Since that new system is, however, very similar to the rules which have just been described, I shall only point out a few differences here. In the new system the player's freedom of contract is emphasised, but at the same time it is stated that the new club is to pay a transfer fee to the previous club:

`Sans préjudice de la liberté contractuelle du joueur, le club acquéreur est tenu de verser une indemnité au dernier club d'affectation (Art. IV/61.4).'

(`Without prejudice to the player's freedom of contract, the acquiring club shall be obliged to pay compensation to the club with which he was last registered (Art. IV/61.4).') (22)

In the provision referred to, the transfer fee is defined as a payment intended as compensation for the training and development of the player, his skill, and the cost of replacing him (`une indemnité compensant la formation, la promotion, le savoir-faire et le remplacement').

As under the previous rules, the transfer fee is calculated, in the event of a compulsory transfer, by multiplying the player's gross income by a specified factor depending on the player's age. (23) The figures have been changed slightly, however. Thus for a professional aged from 25 to 27 in the first division, the transfer fee is now eight times his gross income.

11 The 1993 URBSFA statutes also contain provisions which apply if a player who has hitherto belonged to a foreign club moves to a Belgian club. They refer in this respect to the corresponding FIFA rules. (24) The player in question cannot be given entitlement to play for a Belgian club until URBSFA is in possession of an international transfer certificate issued by the association which the player wishes to leave. The association may be ordered by FIFA to issue the certificate, and FIFA can also issue a corresponding certificate itself. Under certain conditions URBSFA can itself issue a...