Preserving sport's specifity
Friday 24 November 2006
e-mail
Print
Digg
Save
UEFA legal affairs and club licensing director Gianni Infantino (©uefa.com)
The Bosman ruling in 1995 drastically altered football. The ruling by the European Court of Justice in the case concerning Jean-Marc Bosman, a Belgian player, completely changed the player transfer system and transformed the make-up of club sides throughout Europe. Limits on "foreign" players in European club teams came to an end, and the consequences for the game have been far-reaching.
Major impact
European law has continued to have a major impact on sport in recent years, although the cases are less celebrated. However, it is perhaps not obvious that a ruling concerning a couple of professional swimmers involved in a doping dispute could have similar ground-breaking consequences for sport. This was the Meca-Medina case, in which judgement was handed down by the European Court of Justice in July 2006.
Legal process
The Bosman case concerned free movement of workers, a core principle of the EU legal system. The Meca-Medina case involved two swimmers who had failed a doping test. The penalty imposed on the swimmers, a two-year suspension, was challenged under European competition (or anti-trust) law. There followed a long and complicated legal process involving the European Commission, the European Court of First Instance, and the European Court of Justice.
Are limits acceptable
The swimmers lost their case. However, as a result of the Court of Justice ruling, sports disciplinary rulings (eg in relation to doping penalties) may need to be analysed under European competition law, in particular, to determine whether the limits contained in the rules are acceptable and the penalties imposed are "proportionate".
European review
In a summary article, and a longer background essay, the UEFA director of legal affairs and club licensing, Gianni Infantino, looks at this issue in view of the findings of the newly-published Independent European Sports Review – which UEFA has fully endorsed. Click here to read the review.
Specific nature
The review supports recognition of sport's specific nature in European Union legislation, and the preservation and protection of the present European sports model. However, is the Meca-Medina verdict a step backwards for the European sports model and sport's specificity?
Click here to read UEFA's analysis
Click here to read UEFA's summary
©uefa.com 1998-2009. All rights reserved.
