The Influence Of European Union's Law On The Transfer System Of Football Players

The professional level of European football stands the first place in the world. Comparatively, all its systems are complete. There is no exception in the transfer system (hereinafter referred to as "TS") for football players. So the European football TS is worthy of being studied. It will be a good reference for us to reform our TS.The earliest TS in Europe came into being in the late 19th century. At that time, the system mainly controlled the migration of football players and worked for the good of the clubs. Under this system, the rights and interests of players were unprotected. The situation didn't change a lot until Bosman standed out. Bosman resorted to law to guard his rights. At last he won the suit. Then the Bosman verdict came forth. This decision specified that when a player came to the end of his contract, no transfer fee was payable where that player moved from a club to another. And the decision abolished the rule that restricted the number of foreign players.Under the EC law, there are no direct provisions in the Treaty on sport. But after Bosman verdict, it ended the situation that football circle even the whole sport field in EC was out of law control, including the TS. In order to show clearly about how the EC brought the transfer in line with EC law, the article first introduces the EC law related with the TS: Article 48 on the freedom of movement of worker and Article 81& Article 82 on governing competition. And it explains the general way how the ECJ deals with the cases of transfer. Then through the specific cases, it analyzes that what kind of rules are not in accordance with EC law and how the ECJ demonstrates it. The ECJ adheres that if no sport interests are supreme, sport with economic character will be subject to the Treaty.With the pressure of Bosman verdict, FIFA reached an agreement with the Commission on the amendment of the transfer rules. And FIFA Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players was enacted in 2001. The 2001 TS includes protection of minors, training compensation for young players, maintenance of contractual stability and solidarity mechanism etc. After revising, the 2005 TS came out. The article reviews the two systems in two steps. On the one hand, it introduces the contents. On the other hand, comparing with the past systems, it analyzes the changes and the remained problems of the present systems under EC law.Finally, the article analyzes the developing progress of our TS and finds that there also are some legal problems in the system. Based on the successful reform experience of EC TS, the article gives some suggestions for our reform. We should not only change the system itself, but also our idea.