FIFPRO Legal Conference 2025

Football legal experts gather for FIFPRO Legal Conference

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FIFPRO Legal Conference 2025

Football legal experts gathered at FIFPRO House in Hoofddorp, Netherlands on 5-6 March for the annual FIFPRO Legal Conference.

The two-day event provides an opportunity to hear specialist analysis from some of football’s leading legal minds, and for player union legal counsels to share best practice and stay up to date with the latest industry learnings.

The highly publicised Lassana Diarra case and what it means for the football industry was discussed at the conference, where it was reiterated that transfer rules should be open to collective bargaining agreements.

An overview of the latest FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) jurisprudence was also presented, detailing a series of recent egregious cases when rulings went further than ordering clubs to just pay salary arrears. In addition, it was explained which strategies could be adopted if decisions of National Dispute Resolution Chambers (NDRCs) were not enforced by domestic football associations.

A special section was dedicated to various national case studies with relevance for the broader membership of FIFPRO. Topics included a ruling on the conflict of interest between an agent and a player in the Netherlands, the illegal use of player images by betting companies in Denmark and the calculation of damages for contract breach in Mexican football.

Roy Vermeer FIFPRO Legal Conference
FIFPRO Legal Director Roy Vermeer

Attendees also learned about the development of international sports arbitration and key cases that have shaped the sector, as well as the future of the FIFA Agent Regulations, case law updates on the disciplinary consequences of betting in football, anti-doping, the latest CAS jurisprudence in football matters, insights on assisted reproduction in professional football, collective bargaining agreement negotiations, and more.

FIFPRO Legal Director Roy Vermeer thanked attendees for their time over the two days. Vermeer said: “What truly enhances the value of the FIFPRO Legal Conference is the wealth of industry experts offering in-depth analysis on a broad spectrum of topics impacting today's players as well as the possibility of player unions to share their experiences. We sincerely appreciate all the speakers and attendees for their strong contributions and engaging dialogue.”