PORTUGAL Trends and Developments Contributed by: Miguel Santos Almeida, Maria Novo Baptista, João Saúde and Julieta Ricciardi, Sérvulo & Associados
tralização, an entity dedicated to studying, defining, proposing and supporting before any public or pri - vate entity the model for centralised marketing of the referred rights. The option for a centralised marketing model for tele - vision and multimedia rights is justified by the fact that the individualised marketing model currently adopted in Portugal allegedly promotes greater discrepancy between the various clubs in the League, in so far as it channels the main revenues to larger clubs – which, due to their larger fanbase, receive larger bids for the marketing of their rights – to the disadvantage of smaller clubs. Although this model may be claimed to be less attrac - tive to larger clubs, based on the example of the main European leagues, the expectation is that it will tend to generate economic advantages for all clubs in the first and second leagues, regardless of their size. With a better and more equitable distribution of the total value of television revenues, smaller clubs will have more capacity to invest in strengthening their teams, generating greater internal competitiveness, which is expected to make the competition more attractive and create an increase in other sources of revenue. The comparative experience of other countries also suggests that the transition to a centralised marketing model will generate advantages for sports channels and fans, in so far as it will make it possible to make a wider range of sports content available more regularly, It would be impossible to discuss recent sports devel - opments without referencing the creation of the Dutch foundation “Justice for Players”. On 4 October 2024, the ECJ ruled that some of FIFA’s players’ transfer rules were incompatible with EU law, in the famous Diarra case. The background of the case is as follows. • Lassana Diarra, a French football player, entered a sports employment agreement with club FC Loko - motiv Moscow. in line with consumer preferences. Diarra Effect and Justice for Players
• After one year, the club terminated the contract due to alleged contractual breaches and filed a claim for compensation before FIFA’s Dispute Res - olution Chamber, claiming breach of the contract and termination without cause, as stated in Article 17 of FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP). The claim was upheld. • Following the termination, the player received an offer by club Royal Charleroi, under the conditions that: (a) Diarra could be registered and play in the club’s first team in all FIFA, UEFA and Belgian Football Association organised competitions; and (b) no compensation was due by Royal Charleroi to Lokomotiv Moscow. • Given that the player could not fulfil those condi - tions, he missed this opportunity. • Consequently, the player brought the matter before the Belgian courts in 2015 and argued that Arti - cle 17 of the RSTP did not comply with EU law, specifically with the principle of free movement of workers. • The Belgian courts upheld the claim, and FIFA appealed that decision to the ECJ. On October 2024, the ECJ deemed that Article 17 (1) of the RSTP did not comply with the EU principle of free movement of workers, as foreseen in Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in so far as, by foreseeing the joint and several liability of the new club for the payment of compensa - tion for breach of contract owed by the professional player to his former club in the event of early termina - tion of the contract without just cause, such provision was likely to discourage or dissuade clubs from sign - ing the player for fear of exposure to a financial risk. The ECJ also concluded that this rule unjustifiably restricted the free competition imposed by EU law (Article 101.º of the TFEU), as it restricts the employ - ment of players in this situation and puts them in an unfavourable position vis-à-vis the other players. Following the ECJ’s decision, FIFA opened a global dialogue on Article 17 of the RSTP and suspended all disciplinary proceedings related to the application of that provision.
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