Book Chapter Details
Mandatory Fields
Donnellan L,
2007 Unknown
Player’s Agents Worldwide: Legal Aspects
‘The Regulation of Football Agents in Ireland’
TMC. Asser Press 2007)
The Netherlands
Published
1
Optional Fields
Law of agency, Professional Football in Ireland, the FIFA Regulations

The use of player agents in sport is not a recent phenomenon. In the United Kingdom, the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) was founded in 1907 and this association offers players an agency service. Agents can negotiate complex contracts worth millions of Euro yet there is no stipulation that the agent must be solicitor or lawyer. Despite the increased commercialism and professionalism of sport, Ireland has been slow to introduce any legislation regulating sports agents. Football Association of Ireland (FAI) regulates football agents by requiring its licensed agents to follow the FIFA regulations. In the absence of statutory provisions governing such agents, the relationship between a footballer and their agent is contractual. Although professional footballers are considered to be employees of their club, in reality few professional players negotiate directly with the club. Instead a player will obtain the services of an agent, who will be authorised to act on his behalf. In general, a principal is bound by the acts of his agent.

 

In Ireland, a lawyer/solicitor who acts as football agent is not only bound by the terms of the agency contract but also by the lawyer-client relationship. Under Irish law solicitors are governed by their professional body, the Law Society of Ireland. Solicitors are regulated by a number of Acts, statutory instruments and by the Law Society Guide to Professional Conduct.  However, for agents that are not in the legal profession, there is little regulation outside the terms of the agency agreement and the FIFA regulations. This can leave players in a vulnerable position who employ unprincipled agents who act not only to the player’s detriment but also the club’s. Agents can receive a percentage of a player’s remuneration or a may negotiate a once off fee. As this can often prove to be very lucrative on the part of the agent, there have been calls for the introduction of legislation to regulate the non-legal agent. Increasingly, player associations have assumed an agency role to players on an individual basis. Unless the sport can regulate agents itself, statutory intervention will become necessary. In the United States, the Athlete Agents Act was introduced to establish a system of regulation for sports agents.

 

Given the absence of statutory regulation in Ireland, this chapter will begin by examining the relationship between the agent and footballer under the law of agency, the next section will discuss the current professional football industry in Ireland, followed by the FIFA regulation of agents, the position of the European Commission, and the chapter will conclude with a discussion of the formalities involved in becoming a football agent in Ireland.

 

978-90-6704-245-1
http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789067042451
295
308
Grant Details