April 30 – Ephraim Barak, Rex Sport Academic Director and founder and managing partner of EB SportLaw, says the new FIFA Rules on the Status and Transfer of Player are “only the beginning of a very influential change”.

Speaking in advance of the Sports Law at the Crossroads conference, May 10-11 in Madrid, Barak said: “For sure it is only the beginning of a very influential change on the very important elements of the relations between football players and clubs. For many years the interpretation of the Regulations as well as the practical consequences of different circumstances in the contractual relations, where they were not clear or sufficiently precise in many aspects was left to the adjudging tribunals, mainly CAS.

“The new rules, in a way adopt and follow the Jurisprudence but now creating more stability and avoiding misunderstandings and in other aspects establish new rules that also deviate from the established jurisprudence, however being now part of the regulations will be mandatory.”

He also warned that the “new rules also impose some restrictions on the contractual freedom of the parties and they may still be subject to criticism and discussions. In any case the changes will definitely affect football.”

The conference takes as its first day theme the new rules and their implications for players, clubs, agents and federations, with viewpoints and argument to be heard from a number of football’s most powerful stakeholders.

“I believe that the list speaks for itself. We will be honored by an opening speech by the president of the RFEF, Luis Rubiales. We have a very important “delegation” coming from FIFA, starting with  Emilio Garcia, the chief legal officer of FIFA as well as Omar Ongaro, the Football regulatory director at FIFA and of course Erika Montemor, the recently appointed Head of Players Status.

“We will be happy to have as speakers the present and previous Head of Legal of the RFEF, Dr. Miguel Gracia and Kepa Larumbe. Considering the topics we will have representatives of very important organizations (FIFPRO & ECA) Roy Vermeer, Jose Luis Andrade and Dan de Jong.”

The second day of the conference is dedicated to esports, which Barak says is fast evolving from a legal and governance perspective and demands immediate attention. “We are actually leaving a revolutionary area when esports are emerging and becoming more and more important and this new phenomena needs to be discussed in the framework of the future of sport law.  The question of when (in my opinion there is no question of if) the traditional sport organizations will bear more attention to this new world is a very important question.

“However, even if e-sport will is ‘left alone’ for a while, it is important to see if at all the regulatory framework of this activity is already legally well organized and we know that already now more and more sport lawyers are looking and entering into this field of activities.”

Sports Law at the Crossroads will take place at the Madrid Bar Association, May 10-11. Some places are still available for the conference on a first-come, first-served basis. All delegates have places at the Gala Dinner to be held at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, May 10.

For a full schedule and speaker list click here.

To book click here.

For more information contact moc.l1734948926labto1734948926ofdlr1734948926owedi1734948926sni@n1734948926osloh1734948926cin.l1734948926uap1734948926