After England and Germany, important elements of the new FIFA rules for players’ agents (FFAR) may not be applied in Spain for the time being. This was decided by the Madrid Commercial Court this Monday
“FIFA is ordered not to apply articles 15.1 and 15.2 of the FFAR”. The same applies to the Spanish association RFEF, which was a defendant alongside the world governing body.
The Spanish agents’ association and 18 other player consultancy agencies had filed a lawsuit. The aforementioned Article 15 of the FFAR is the one that obviously annoys the agents the most and against which important consultants such as Jorge Mendes and Jonathan Barnett had been up in arms from the very beginning of the reform.
Advisor fees will continue to be regulated by the market – appeals are considered safe
Because it describes upper limits for consultancy fees, which were previously only regulated by the market and which in individual cases had shot up to almost obscene heights. For example, when the now deceased Mino Raiola is said to have collected 49 million euros for the 2016 transfer of Paul Pogba from Juventus Turin to Manchester United.
FIFA and the RFEF now have 20 days to appeal. It is considered certain that they will do so. After all, the world governing body has also appealed to the second instance in Germany, where the Dortmund Regional Court (LG) has issued an injunction against the new rules. While in England, where the rules are also out of force, hearings will continue this year, the appeal in Germany before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (OLG) will not take place until the end of January 2024.
International agencies are subcontracting German consultants en masse
This gives German intermediaries an advantage in the January transfer period: the caps will definitely not apply here. Industry experts assume that international agencies will subcontract German consultants en masse in order to safely avoid the FFAR in January. Whether and when an appeal hearing will take place in Spain cannot be said at this time.
Most recently, the EU Commission declared the FFAR to be largely compatible with EU law in a written submission to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg, although this is merely a recommendation. The Regional Court of Mainz, which was also seized, had referred questions of fact to the ECJ.
In addition, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne ruled in favor of FIFA in its efforts. So now, after Dortmund, comes another defeat for FIFA: it remains exciting in the legal arena in the billion-euro dispute over consultancy fees.
