Coronavirus - Legal Implications: Professional Football

The current pandemic caused by SARS CoV-2 and COVID-19 has disrupted the professional football sports competitions at national, European and world levels.

 

To this extent, international, European and national football bodies have been adopting a range of measures (including recommendations, guidelines and concrete decisions) with impact on the normal functioning of competitions between clubs and national teams.

 

In any case, FIFA itself, while recognizing that the current pandemic is a situation of force majeure in the light of its Statutes, considers that it is not in a position to instruct the FIFA Member Associations or to decide on the date on which football competitions should restart in each country, as this depends on the decision of each Member Association taking into account the indication of respective national public authorities.

 

This text thus aims to identify the set of recommendations, guidelines and measures adopted by the various professional football bodies, in particular in the Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Turkish leagues.

 

Topics covered:

• Transfer market and football competitions in major european leagues
• UEFA’s competitions
• Release of players to national teams
• Additional measures adopted by the portuguese government in relation to sports federations
• Sponsorship and broadcasting rights contracts
• Technical opinion from dgs
• Sport employment agreement and other contracts
• Extension of reporting and payment deadlines (seaf order)
• Recognition of the situation of justified impediment to comply with tax reporting obligations (seaf order)
• Suspension of all enforcement proceedings and payment plans regarding tax debts
• Exceptional regime for compliance with deadlines to pay tax due in the second quarter of 2020 (decree-law 10-f/2020)
• National courts and the portuguese court of arbitration for sport
• Court of arbitration for sport and FIFA’s jurisdictional bodies