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Players’ agent regulations in football stopped by the court

Dhe District Court of Dortmund has provisionally prohibited the international football association FIFA and the German Football Association (DFB) from “enforcing, implementing or applying” the players’ agent regulations passed in December 2022. The 8th civil chamber granted the urgent legal protection applications of the players’ agents Ralf Bockstedte and Michael Frank, who see anti-competitive restrictions in the FIFA regulations (file number 8 O 1/23).

The claims for injunctive relief are justified, the decisions of FIFA and their expected implementation by the DFB violate the ban on cartels because they are likely to restrict trade between the member states of the European Union. The FIFA regulations are not purely sporting rules and are therefore not excluded from the scope of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

With the new regulations, FIFA wants to introduce a license requirement for consultants and cap the upper limit of consultant commissions at three percent of the player’s salary or ten percent of the transfer fee. The regulations serve the integrity of the transfer market and sporting competition and secure professional football as a whole.

The player consultant industry is defending itself against the restrictions in several proceedings; at the end of March, the Mainz Regional Court referred a lawsuit against FIFA to the European Court of Justice. The Dortmund court now refers to this when justifying the urgency of the application by Bockstedte and Frank: It could possibly be years before the judges in Luxembourg reach a decision and a “possibly illegal situation would be perpetuated”.

According to FIFA, around 600 million euros in commissions for international transfers were paid in 2022. Estimates of the commissions incurred for transfers in Germany also amount to hundreds of millions.

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