The Beautiful Game: The Law of Soccer / Football
The Beautiful Game: The Law of Soccer/Football
This is a guide to materials on legal issues related to soccer/football.
Photo credit: Jimmy Baikovicius, Lionel Messi World Cup Golden Ball | 140713-9163-jikatu | Flickr
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Governing Bodies
Universal Government Body
FIFA stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association. It is the governing body for world football/soccer, and it is the organizer of the World Cup championship soccer tournaments for men's and women's national teams. Its headquarters are located in Zürich, Switzerland.
Regional Governing Bodies
FIFA-member associations are grouped together into six (6) regional or continental confederations, which organize national and club competitions.
Selected National Governing Bodies organized by Confederations
Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol / Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol (CONMEBOL) (South America)
Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF)
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
Players Union
Player Union
- FIFPro: World Players UnionFIFPro is a worldwide union for professional football/soccer players.
Resolution of Conflicts
Football Tribunal
The Football Tribunal takes decisions relating to football-related disputes and regulatory applications, according to the FIFA Statutes and the FIFA Disciplinary Code on member associations, clubs, officials, players, football agents, and match agents.
The Football Tribunal is composed of three (3) chambers:
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the Dispute Resolution Chamber: It decides employment-related disputes between players and clubs, and disputes related to training rewards.
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the Players Status Chamber: It decides employment-related disputes between coaches and clubs or associations, transfer-related disputes between clubs, and regulatory applications related to the international transfer system and the eligibility of players to participate for representative teams.
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the Agents Chamber: It decides disputes involving football agents, following the approval of the FIFA Football Agent Regulations.
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), located in Lausanne, Switzerland, hears and resolves appeals.
Appeals against final decisions passed by FIFA’s legal bodies and against decisions passed by confederations, member associations or leagues shall be lodged with CAS within 21 days of receipt of the decision in question (Article 57 FIFA Statutes).
FIFA Materials
FIFA Materials
- Legal HandbookComplete set of legal regulations which include updated statutes, governance regulations, disciplinary code, code of ethics, among others.
- Other official documentsArchived financial reports, published circulars, regulations of each and every FIFA tournament, technical reports or even security regulations are available.
Selected Books
Selected Books
Aktuelle rechtsfragen im profifussball by ISBN: 9783848723263Publication Date: 2016Recht und Psychologie - zwei Materien, die sich in kaum einem Lebensbereich so unmittelbar begegnen wie im Sport. Ein Charakteristikum des modernen Profifußballs liegt in der affektiven und spekulativen Dimension des Sportspiels Fußball. Das Verhalten aller unmittelbar und mittelbar Beteiligten ist psychologischen Einflüssen ausgesetzt, die zu Sondersituationen führen. Das betrifft die Vereine mit Spielern und Organen ebenso wie die Verbände als Organisatoren des Spielbetriebs und die Zuschauer. Die rechtliche Gestaltung und Beurteilung muss auf die psychologischen Implikationen und deren Rahmenbedingungen (Leistungsdruck, Medienaufmerksamkeit, Begeisterung, Zufall) spezifisch reagieren und das psychologische Moment mit aufnehmen. Auf der Potsdamer Tagung wurden praxisorientierte Problemfragen aus dem Bereich des nationalen und internationalen Sportrechts zur Diskussion gestellt. Die Referenten haben in kurzen Referaten Rechtsprobleme aus ihrer Praxis, Ideen und Thesen dazu präsentiert und diese im Plenum diskutieren lassen. Die aufschlussreichen Ergebnisse enthält der vorliegende Tagungsband.
Derecho del fútbol : presente y futuro by ISBN: 9788429018929Publication Date: 2016Obra monográfica que recoge cuestiones actuales sobre el Derecho del fútbol, como el “fair play”, las cuotas de los jugadores, el dopaje, la mediación, los derechos audiovisuales, los actos de reivindicación política en los estadios, el fútbol femenino... Selección de las comunicaciones más relevantes del “Congreso de la Asociación Española de Derecho Deportivo”, celebrado en octubre de 2015, en Gijón.
The fall of the house of FIFA by ISBN: 9780224100441Publication Date: 2017When Sepp Blatter joined FIFA in 1975 it had just twelve employees. Forty years later, the FBI have accused fourteen executives of forty-seven counts of money laundering, racketeering and tax evasion linked to kickbacks. This book tells the story of how football got big, how FIFA got corrupt and what this means for soccer fans around the world.
FIFA and human rights by ISBN: 9783708311999Publication Date: 2017Football makes the world go round. Accordingly, the international governing body of federation football, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is a powerful actor on the international plane, and it is not always playing fair: Its market force persuades states to reform their budgets, administrative provisions, public policing and even their criminal jurisdiction systems, potentially
endangering the rights of the individual. But can FIFA be held accountable, as non-state actors all too often seem to be out of reach of international human rights law?- Fútbol : vida, trampa y milagros = Football : life, trick and miraclesISBN: 9789587645460Publication Date: 2018Edición bilingüe español/inglés de las crónicas que recorren el fútbol, sus significaciones, imaginarios y desvíos, las incursiones políticas y las manifestaciones del poder con relación a su ejercicio en el mundo de hoy y a lo largo de la historia. Spitaletta es comunicador social y periodista colombiano de la Universidad de Antioquía con estudios en la Universidad Nacional.
The Legacy of Bosman by ISBN: 9789462651197Publication Date: 2016In December 1995, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered its judgment in its most famous case to date: the Bosman case. Twenty years later, this book explores in detail how this landmark judgment legally and politically transformed the relationship between the European Union and sport. Written by leading academics in the field, the ten contributions in this book reflect on how Bosman fundamentally shaped the application of EU law to sport and its transformative effects on sports governance.
Legal responses to football hooliganism in Europe by ISBN: 9789462651074Publication Date: 2016This book brings together a number of perspectives on how different European states have responded to the phenomenon of football crowd disorder and violence, or "hooliganism". It applies a comparative legal approach, with a particular focus on civil and human rights, to analyze domestic legislation, policing and judicial responses to the problem of "football hooliganism" in Europe
Les migrations des footballeurs à l'heure de la mondialisation by ISBN: 2343108587Publication Date: 2017La question des migrations des footballeurs à l'heure de la mondialisation revêt un nombre d'enjeux considérables pour les institutions, les fédérations et les clubs internationaux. Elle met en lumière les déséquilibres économiques, politiques, économiques et sportifs du monde contemporain. Cet ouvrage dresse un panorama des migrations en cours à destination des championnats européens. Il montre quels sont les espaces, les flux, les logiques, les trajectoires et les dérives migratoires créés par le marche footballistique international.
Liability of football clubs by ISBN: 9789462366701Publication Date: 2016Supporters’ misconduct is an unfortunate phenomenon connected to the most popular sport in the world. Despite many legislative efforts, incidents keep occurring, often resulting in damage. The difficulty in addressing the misbehaving individuals directly has led to the idea of addressing football clubs instead. The rules created by national and international football organisations hold clubs liable for their supporters' behaviour regardless of the question of culpable conduct. In addition to the disciplinary liability, there is the issue of the compensation for damage caused before, during and after football matches. Both forms of liability of football clubs for supporters’ misconduct – disciplinary liability and civil liability – have been the subject of a number of court cases across Europe. Are the judgments in these two types of cases in line with each other with respect to the appreciation of the applicable rules and sanctions?
The official history of the Fifa World Cup by ISBN: 1787390187Publication Date: 2018Packed with stunning photography, official documents, and statistics, this officially endorsed history from FIFA tells behind-the-scenes stories, analyzes the legendary matches, and features the biggest stars as well as many lesser-known players. It's a must-read for soccer fans around the world.
Routledge handbook of football studies by ISBN: 9780415815109Publication Date: 2016Written by a team of leading sport scholars, the book covers a broad range of disciplines from history, sociology, politics and business, to philosophy, law and media studies. The central section of the book examines key themes and issues in football studies, such as the World Cup and international competition, governance and ownership, fandom and celebrity. The concluding section offers in-depth surveys of the culture and organization of football in each of the regional confederations, from UEFA to CONCACAF.
Finding Materials in the Harvard Libraries
To help you explore the Harvard Libraries' materials related to this subject, below are links to pre-populated searches of the HOLLIS library catalog. These are subject-based searches and will return materials in all languages.
Useful Resources
Soccer Player Market Value
Useful Websites
- LawInSportLawInSport provides practically focused expert analysis and commentary on the latest legal developments in sport.
- Legal Tribune Online: Fussball (German only)Legal Tribune Online is a legal magazine for the publisher of Germany's Jurion legal database. Click the link above to view a list of (German-language) articles about soccer and law.
- FIFA Youtube channelWatch or stream for free thousands of live matches per month, untold stories from your favourite footballers, and the biggest archive of World Cup.
Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement
The author wants to express his gratitude to Jennifer Allison, Foreign, Comparative, and International law librarian and fan of this beautiful game, for her fabulous work on the initial version of this research guide.
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