Important legal notice. European Court reports Page I The first question concerns the rules which permit a football club, if a player under contract with it moves to another club after that contract has expired, to demand a certain sum of money the so-called transfer fee from that club. The second question which has been referred concerns the rules which restrict the access of foreign footballers to the various competitions the so-called rules on foreign players.
As will be demonstrated, only in a few Member States so far has the national legislature enacted provisions which are of relevance in this field. Since the rules of those associations interlock and are more or less aligned to each other, in order to understand them one must first form a concept of how football is organized. As a rule there is a single association in each Member State, which organizes the sport at national level. An exception is the United Kingdom, where for historical reasons England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own association.
UEFA currently has around 50 members in all. Only a player who is entitled to play may take part in the matches organized by the association. Entitlement to play presupposes that the player belongs to the Belgian association and a Belgian club. A transfer is defined as the process by which a player belonging to the association changes his club affiliation.
In the event of a temporary transfer, the player continues to belong to his previous club but is entitled to play for his new club.
The rules on transfers of amateurs need no further description here. It is, however, important for an understanding of what is stated below that an amateur may change clubs by means of a compulsory transfer, with the new club having to pay a transfer fee of up to BFR 1 The clubs conclude contracts with those players, in which provision is made in particular for remuneration and minimum bonuses.
