Litigator & Counselor
From start to finish, Chelsea drove the story of 2023’s winter transfer window. Like many a good story, this one was well-organized. It began in north, where Chelsea spent €12M to purchase emerging striker David Datro Fofana from Norway’s Molde and flowed downstream to its conclusion in the south, where they handed Benfica €121M for …
Continue reading “David Datro Fofana: From Abidjan to Chelsea and the Fight In Between”
Recently, Major League Soccer has signed several players under age 18 to lengthy (five-to-seven years) professional contracts. While these contract terms exceed the maximum allowed by FIFA for under 18 players, the contracts are likely valid under US laws. This article discusses creative solutions these players may have to free themselves from their long contracts. …
Continue reading “Escape Room: Young MLS Signings and the Contracts that (May) Bind Them”
This article was first posted on March 9, 2018 (on Medium). It has undergone minor edits for clarity. In January 2018, Canadian striker Cyle Larin completed a move from Major League Soccer’s Orlando City to Turkish club Besiktas. Reportedly, Besiktas paid Orlando a transfer fee in the neighborhood of $2.3 million. That was the simple part. The …
In late 2021, the Court of Arbitration for Sport denied 15-year-old American David Kelley’s[1] attempt to sign with Fehervar, one of Hungary’s top clubs. The player had argued he fell within the “not linked to football” exception to Article 19 of FIFA’s RSTP – the rule that, in most cases, prevents clubs from signing foreign …
Continue reading “Notes on Article 19: In pursuit of a more coherent standard”
Two weeks ago, FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee punished two French clubs – Angers and Paris FC – for their roles in a so-called “bridge transfer.” This is a multi-step transaction where clubs arrange for the same player to be transferred twice, over a short time, so they can avoid some rule or regulation. While clubs have …
Long-standing precedent from FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber entitles clubs to training compensation for the period they take a player on loan. But the right to compensation does not arise until the parent club transfers the player to a club in another association. In other words, the time with the parent club and the time on …
Continue reading “FIFA Case Note: Udinese v. Paris St. Germain”
Terry Brennan Law 