#62024CJ0133EU Court: football no-poach pact may breach competition law
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This judgment makes clear that clubs cannot use a crisis as a free pass to agree not to hire each other’s players. The case concerned Portuguese football clubs and the league, which agreed during the COVID-19 disruption not to sign players who had ended contracts because of pandemic-related issues. The Court says recruitment of players is part of economic competition, and a no-poach deal can restrict competition on the labour market, not just on the market for selling goods or services. For compliance teams, the practical message is broader than football. Agreements between competing employers not to hire, solicit, or compete for workers are high-risk under EU competition rules. Sport-specific goals, such as season stability or competition integrity, may matter only if the measure is genuinely needed, proportionate, and tied to a legitimate public-interest aim. Blanket hiring bans are especially hard to defend.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.
Key Changes
- Confirms that EU competition law can apply to professional sports rules when they affect economic activity, including player recruitment.
- Treats no-poach agreements between clubs or competing employers as potentially serious restrictions of competition on the labour market.
- Makes clear that crisis management or sporting integrity arguments do not automatically excuse hiring bans; any limit must be necessary and proportionate.
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Obligations
What this law requires
Informational note: Article 101(1) TFEU is the EU law provision discussed; it prohibits agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings, and concerted practices that may affect trade between Member States and have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction, or distortion of competition within the internal market.
Informational note: Article 101(1) TFEU is discussed as applying to labour-market competition; recruitment of professional football players by clubs can constitute economic competition, so agreements not to hire, solicit, or compete for workers may fall within Article 101(1).
Informational note: The national measure under challenge was an agreement announced by the Portuguese Professional Football League and participating clubs that no club would hire a player who unilaterally terminated his employment contract citing COVID-19-related difficulties or exceptional decisions arising from the pandemic, including extension of the sporting season.
Informational note: The Court treats no-poach arrangements between competing clubs as capable of restricting competition on the player recruitment market, not only on markets for goods or services.
Informational note: The Court indicates that a no-poach agreement may be assessed as a restriction of competition by object where its content, objectives, and economic and legal context reveal a sufficient degree of harm to competition.