About FIFPro's Legal Department

The Legal Department of FIFPro has been in existence since 2002. It has since developed into an important advisor to the FIFPro board on current legal questions in football whereby the interests of the professional players are of central importance.

The Legal Department primarily studies the position which a player adopts when entering into a contract or upon the conclusion of a transfer. Other prominent issues dealt with by the Legal Department include:

• guaranteeing the position of young players;
• doping;
• anti-racism;
• asserting the interests of players in relation to the commercial aspects of football (such as image rights).

Another important component of the work of FIFPro’s Legal Department is the advice and support which it provides to various national football associations, for example in the drawing up of standard player contracts and the establishment of national Dispute Resolution Chambers.

The Legal Department also supports and advises FIFPro delegates who are members of various arbitration commissions, such as the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber.

The Legal Department has since set up a Legal Network, through which the legal experts of the affiliated players’ unions can be kept up to date with the most recent developments in the sporting-legal field.

The greatest success of FIFPro’s Legal Department thus far has been its contribution to the success of the Webster case which ended with a ruling from the CAS stipulating that the transfer value of a player after the protected period may not exceed the remaining value of his contract.