Big money permanent transfers are usually the headline grabbers but there have been some significant loan moves this window… Tanguy Ndombele from Tottenham to Lyon, Adama Traoré from Wolverhampton Wanderers to Barcelona, Antony Martial from Manchester United to Sevilla, and Aaron Ramsey from Juventus to Rangers, to name just a few of the international loan … Continue Reading
Sports Shorts previously commented on the FIFA guidelines that were recently published to address some of the practical issues that arose as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis. FIFA has now published temporary amendments to its FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (“RSTP“), which are binding. FIFA also published recommendations in response … Continue Reading
The Portuguese Competition Authority (“PCA”) last week ordered the Portuguese Professional Football League (“LPFP”) to suspend no-poach agreements implemented between clubs. This follows the adoption by the LPFP of a resolution whereby football clubs agreed not to hire football players from other clubs “who unilaterally terminated their employment contract due to issues caused by the … Continue Reading
The first of January saw the opening of the 2017/18 winter transfer window. Clubs have until 11pm on 31 January to conclude their business for this season. As ever, transfer windows bring with them much speculation about potential moves and the terms of new contracts signed by players. Speculation that Lionel Messi would leave Barcelona … Continue Reading
Paris Saint Germain’s summer transfer activity came to an end in (Seine)sational style! The facts speak for themselves: The two largest football transfer fees in history – £366M combined spending on Neymar da Silva Santos Junior and Kylian Mbappe; Combined wages of a reported £700k/week (both on 5 year contracts). The signings of Neymar and … Continue Reading
Since part 1 of this blog series was published, the Neymar transfer saga moved to a denouement. Overnight, FC Barcelona were reported to have accepted the buy-out fee and today (4 August 2017), Neymar was officially unveiled as a Paris Saint-Germain player. In the case of Neymar, the inclusion of a buy-out clause in the … Continue Reading
Undoubtedly the biggest story of the present transfer window (or perhaps any transfer window ever) is the proposed transfer of Neymar from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for a reported €222 million. To date, the largest transfer fee ever paid for a player was the €105 million Manchester United paid Juventus for Paul Pogba in … Continue Reading
The summer transfer window has been open for less than two weeks but, at the time of writing, football clubs in the top five European leagues have already completed 454 deals worth a total of £981.4 million. With a month still remaining before the transfer window closes in the majority of countries, there is still … Continue Reading
On 2 February 2017, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) issued a media release in which it confirmed that it had upheld the FIFA decision by which the football player Hakan Çalhanoğlu (the “Player”) was banned from playing for four months after breaching the terms of an employment contract that he had entered into … Continue Reading
January, you may agree, is not the most fun of months. With the come-down from the festive period, the introduction of diets/exercise regimes and (certainly in the UK at least) cold, dark and wet days, it can all feel a bit dreary. However, since the 2002/03 season, January has also held a mixture of excitement, … Continue Reading
José Mourinho, the manager of Manchester United, stated yesterday that his side has no “untouchables”. Asked by journalists about whether any players in his current squad were immune from the risk of being dropped, Mourinho is reported to have said that: “Untouchable in our team has to be the spirit, the commitment, the pride, the … Continue Reading
Tomorrow (13 October 2016), Sports Shorts will be attending the British Association for Sport and Law’s Annual Conference. The ‘Hot Topics’ session will focus on the rules which govern each football transfer window, how the transfer window began and why we (and the media) have such a fascination with it. And fascinated we are. Whether … Continue Reading
In the United States, there is a tradition that the new President’s performance is measured after 100 days in office. Today (3 October 2016), marks 100 days since the British nation voted to leave the European Union on 24 June 2016. On Sunday 2 October 2016, Theresa May (again) declared that Brexit really means Brexit. … Continue Reading
The Telegraph has today reported that Sam Allardyce, the manager of the England football team, has explained to purported businessmen how they could circumvent the Football Association’s rules that prohibit third party ownership of players. While some of the other revelations in The Telegraph’s report may be more personally embarrassing for Allardyce, it is his … Continue Reading
On two days every year football fans up and down the country get lost in the chaos of transfer deadline day. The rumour mill goes into overdrive and otherwise financially prudent clubs can lose all perspective in last minute bids to buy players they may otherwise not have been interested in. The present transfer window … Continue Reading
