Crisis at Football Market After The "Bosman": Are Competition Exemptions Admissible for Football?

Abstract

Sports has been a prominent issue in European Union agenda and within this field football has been the most interesting and attractive branch of sports. This study will examine the legal conformity of making competition exemption to enhance competition in the field of football. Following such a context; firstly the applicability of EU Law to the field of sport will be elaborated. Within this issue, the evolving relationship between sport and European Union, the sports connection to the community law is essential. The Helsinki report constitutes a basic document in which general problems linking the sport and the Competition Policy were deliberated. Thus, it will be presented before the related articles of the EC Treaty. Then, the actors of football and their legal positions will be introduced. The various markets will be distinguished in order to reveal the affects of restrictions on an upstream market on the downstream markets. After that; the main actors of football market including the footballers, the FIFA and the UEFA will be explained. The changing situation of footballers and transfer system will be elaborated. The conditions for competition exemption in the area of football will be expressed in addition to the expectations of the EU from the market. Mentioning this issue, the paper will deal with relevant legislations about the competition exemptions. Since the Bosman case constitutes a turning point as it caused many unexpected results and circumstances in the football market; it will be analyzed as a main issue in this thesis. The history of Bosman, the interpretation of the ECJ of the case and the results that affect the European football market will be given. Covering these issues, the main aim of the thesis is to find an answer to whether competition exemptions are admissible for football or not.

References

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