UEFA Football Law Programme (UEFA FLP)

A short online session in the afternoon for participants to meet each others and the staff of the programme as well as to go through its main components, schedule, and requirements.

This first session of the UEFA Football Law Programme aims to provide you with solid foundations in the area of football law – foundations that you can then build on in future sessions. You need to start your journey by understanding and analysing current football structures at national, confederation and international level. We will therefore conduct a full review of the main organisational issues facing FIFA, UEFA and a number of major national associations. During this session, we will also take the time to study the structures and objectives of a number of other key stakeholders in European football, such as the European Club Association, the European Leagues and the International Federation of Professional Footballers. This will give you a clear overview of the football industry, its main legal issues and the possible challenges that it could face in the future.

Topics

• UEFA and FIFA structures: rules and regulations
• Football stakeholders: ECA, FIFPro, FSE and EL
• Football law and state law: sources and relationship
• An introduction to Swiss law
• EU law and sport
• ECJ jurisprudence in sport: influence on football;
• The Council of Europe and sport

The second session of the UEFA Football Law Programme aims to provide you with solid knowledge about the specific content of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, which govern vital aspects of the international football market and are considered essential in the field of football law. This second session of the UEFA Football Law Programme will present you with different aspects of the status and registration of players, the importance of contractual stability between professionals and clubs, the international transfer of minors, the legal regime governing third-party ownership of the players (TPO), training compensation, the solidarity mechanism and the relevant FIFA bodies.

Topics

• FIFA transfer regulations: history and overview
• Players’ status and player registration
• Contractual stability
• Federative rights and third-party influence
• International transfers of minors
• Training compensation and solidarity mechanisms
• Release of players to national associations
• International v national regulations

The main objective of the third session is to provide you with solid knowledge about the various other matters that football lawyers are dealing with on a daily basis. This session of the UEFA FLP will introduce you with a range of very different aspects such as the different disciplinary procedures in football, UEFA’s financial sustainability framework, doping regulations, regulations on Intermediaries, legal framework on match-fixing, TV rights and IP rights, sponsorship contracts and human rights within football.

Topics

• Disciplinary procedures in football (FIFA and UEFA models)
• UEFA’s financial sustainability framework
• The fight against doping: the role of WADA
• FIFA and confederations’ anti-doping rules and procedures
• Match-fixing: rules and regulations
• FIFA intermediaries
• Match organization rules
• Players’ eligibility rules and nationality issues
• TV and IP rights
• Event and sponsorship contracts

The main objective of the fourth session is to provide you with a solid overview of CAS’s role in football. This session will introduce you to a range of very different aspects relating to CAS: its role, the different proceedings which can be conducted before it (ordinary, appeal and mediation), CAS appeals before the Swiss Federal Tribunal and an intensive review of the major CAS football cases.

Topics

• The role and functions of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
• The ordinary procedure
• The appeal procedure
• Landmark cases in football (CAS competence, financial fair play/sustainability, contractual stability, training compensation, solidarity mechanisms, doping, disciplinary, match-fixing and transfers of minors).

The graduation ceremony of the UEFA Football Law Programme will take place during the last session of the programme.