The Football Forum (TFF) has taken note of the opinion issued by the Advocate General Emiliou in the Court of Justice of the European Union’s case C-209/23, concerning the FIFA Football Agents Regulations (“FFAR”).
In the Advocate General’s view, many provisions of the FFAR have as their effect – or even their object – the restriction of competition and need, therefore, to be subject to further rigorous scrutiny. In particular, he underlined that provisions which are aimed at limiting the costs that clubs have to pay for agents’ services “naturally” are not acceptable.
The Advocate General also emphasized that as a dominant entity in global football governance, FIFA may be leveraging its market position to negatively affect adjacent markets, such as the agents’, and stated that such conduct could amount to exploitative or exclusionary abuses, subject to a conclusive assessment to be made by the national court based on further factual findings.
While considering that the FFAR contain “by object” restrictions of competition, TFF will not make further comments on the opinion, noting however, that the Advocate General once more emphasized that FIFA is not exempted from the respect of the laws of the European Union.