Clifford Chance

Victory for football agents: FIFA's fee cap on agents found to be illegal in the UK

14 December 2023

On 30 November 2023, a major blow was struck against FIFA's attempts to cap the fees that football agents can charge for their services. A prestigious arbitration tribunal comprised of Lord Collins, Lord Dyson and Christopher Vajda KC (former CJEU judge) ruled that key elements of FIFA's Football Agent Regulations would, if implemented by the Football Association ("FA") in the UK, constitute an illegal agreement and an abuse of a dominant position in breach of UK competition law. In particular, the panel found that the proposed fee cap was plainly a decision to fix purchase prices and the Tribunal could not discern any justifiable connection between the cap and any perceived abuses or market failures. Clifford Chance acted for the football agents in their successful challenge and the published Award can be found here.

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