When Is a No-Poach Agreement Unlawful and Can It Be Justified? Lessons from Tondela

7 August 2026

The CJEU’s judgment in Tondela confirms that no-poach agreements between competing clubs remain presumptively unlawful under EU competition law, while clarifying that this presumption is both context-sensitive and rebuttable. Against a backdrop of increasing regulatory scrutiny of labour market restrictions in sport, we examine in this two part article how the CJEU’s structured assessment of content, context, and objectives applies in practice, and what its limits are for clubs and sporting federations navigating similar arrangements.

By Emmanuel Goriola, Associate and Sam Parry, Senior Associate at Clifford Chance.

These articles were written for and first published by LawInSport.com. The originals are available at:

When Is a No-Poach Agreement a ‘By-Object’ Restriction? Lessons from Tondela (Part 1)

Can a No-Poach Agreement Be Justified? The Legitimate-Objective Route in Tondela (Part 2)

We have also published an article on the AG Opinion: Can No-Poach Agreements Be Justified? Insights from the AG Opinion on Portuguese Football

 

Download PDF Download PDF