Lawyer Daniel Cravo, an expert in sports law at the Instituto Superior de Derecho y Economía (ISDE), has warned that neither clubs nor the FIFA can “unilaterally” extend players’ contracts beyond 30th June if the season resumes in the summer due to the coronavirus crisis.

This was stated in the online chat organised by ISDE to analyse the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on contracts, transfers and signings in international football in view of national and continental competitions, as in the case of La Liga.

“With regard to the extension of contracts, any unilateral measure obviously cannot be imposed, directly or indirectly, by clubs or FIFA,” said Daniel Cravo, a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Football Lawyers (AIAF).

Daniel Cravo predicted that a “significant number” of disputes between players and clubs are likely to arise, and that “it will be difficult to find agreements” in the event that, as announced on Thursday by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), it is approved that the season can end “beyond” June 30th, the date on which players’ contracts expire.

However, the professor of sports law at ISDE in Madrid and Barcelona stated that FIFA’s decision-making bodies, in the case of a dispute regarding the modification or termination of contracts related to the coronavirus crisis, “will be more tolerant” due to the economic situation in which the clubs find themselves.

The member of the Disciplinary Tribunal of World Athletics, the former International Athletics Federation (IAAF), also called for cooperation between FIFA and all other football stakeholders as the “most important tool to minimise the detrimental impact of this pandemic on the sport”.

“It is time to discuss the real role of sports governing bodies and demand their concrete help and guidance in economic terms,” said the Senior Partner at the Brazilian law firm Cravo, Pastl & Balbuena, which has been advising clubs, players, intermediaries, associations, federations, investment funds and sports companies in disputes with FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for more than 20 years.

 

ISDE SPORTS CONVENTION

ISDE, in collaboration with LaLiga, the Madrid Bar Association and the Madrid Chamber of Commerce, organised this meeting as part of the ISDE Sports Convention (ISC) to analyse the issues of interest in the wake of the health and economic crisis caused by the global pandemic of COVID-19.

Nearly 600 congress participants took part in the previous edition of the ISC, held at the headquarters of Banco Santander in Madrid and attended by the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, as well as the president of the Board of Directors of Real Valladolid, Ronaldo Nazario, the three-time world boxing champion Joana Pastrana and the Olympic badminton champion, Carolina Marín.

The conference dealt with current issues in sports law such as doping, corruption, match-fixing and betting, corruption, match-fixing and sports betting; CAS arbitration; transfers of minors, and the position of the leagues and the majority of football clubs against the ECA and UEFA’s Super League project, among others.

Other issues that were also addressed at the congress on sports law and industry were the rise of eSports; women’s and inclusive sport; management and sustainability in major sporting events; and the Blockchain.