UNIVERSITÉ CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN INSTITUT DES SCIENCES DU TRAVAIL STUDY ON THE REPRESENTATIVENESS OF THE SOCIAL PARTNER ORGANISATIONS IN THE PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS SECTOR PROJECT NO VC/2004/0547 February 2006 Research project conducted on behalf of the Employment and Social Affairs DG of the European Commission STAFF WORKING ON THIS STUDY Author of the report Alexandre CHAIDRON, researcher Cécile Arnould, researcher Coordinators Prof. Armand SPINEUX and Prof. Evelyne LEONARD Research Team Prof. Bernard FUSULIER Prof. Pierre REMAN Delphine ROCHET, researcher Isabelle VANDENBUSSCHE, researcher Administrative co-ordination Myriam CHEVIGNE Network of National Experts Austria: Franz Traxler, Institut für Soziologie – Universität Wien. Belgium: Jean Vandewattyne, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Cyprus: Savvas Katsikides, Maria Modestou and Evros I. Demetriades, Department of Social and Political Science - University of Cyprus Czech Republic: Ales Kroupa and Jaroslav Helena, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs - Charles University of Prague Denmark: Carsten.Jorgensen, Forskningscenter for Arbejdsmarkeds- og Organisationsstudier, FAOS – Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen Estonia: Kaia Philips and Raul Eamets, University of Tartu 2 Finland: Pekka Ylostalo, University of Helsinki, Department of Sociology France: Solveig Grimault, Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris Germany: Dieter Sadowski, Catharina Leilich, Dana Liebmann, Oliver Ludewig, Mihai Paunescu, Martin Schneider and Susanne Warning, Institut für Arbeitsrecht und Arbeitsbeziehungen in der Europäischen Gemeinschaft, IAAEG - Universität Trier Greece: Aliki Mouriki, National Center for Social Research – Athens Hungary: Csaba Makó, Institute of Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Ireland: Pauline Conroy and Niamh Murphy, Ralaheen Ltd Italy: Franca Alacevich and Andrea Bellini, Università degli studi di Firenze – Dipartemento di scienza della politica e sociologia politica. Latvia: Alf Vanags, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies Lithuania: Mark Chandler, EuroFaculty Vilnius Centre, Ekonomikos fakultetas, Vilniaus universitetas Luxembourg: Franz Clément, Centre d’Études de Populations, de Pauvreté et de Politiques Socio-Economiques (CEPS – INSTEAD). Malta: Saviour Rizzo and Manwel Debono, Workers' Participation Development Centre, Department of Sociology Netherlands: Marc Van Der Meer and Branco Martins, University of Amsterdam – Department of Sociology. Poland: Pierre Gréga, Coopération Technique Belge (CTB s.a.). Portugal: Marinus Pires de Lima and Ana Guerreiro, Universidade de Lisboa – Instituto de Ciências Sociais – Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa (ISCTE). Slovakia: Lubica Bajzikova and Helena Sajgalikova, Faculty of Management, COMENIUS UNIVERSITY Slovenia: Alenka Krasovec and Damjan Lajh, University of Ljubljana Spain: Ramon De Alos-Moner Vila, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona – Grup d’Estudis Sociologic sobre la Vida Quotidiana i el Treball Sweden: Dominique Anxo and Jacques Ferrat, Center for European Labour Market Studies (CELMS) – Department of Economics – Göteborg University. The United Kingdom: David Marsden, London School of Economics 3 Disclaimer: The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the European Commission, Directorate-General Employment and Social Affairs. This study has been carried out by independent experts. It therefore does not involve the Commission’s responsibility in any way. The European organisations subject of this study have had the opportunity to comment on the content of this study before its final approval by the Commission1. 1 Approval by the Commission does not imply the approval of any of the European organisations as to content (comment from UEFA). 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS STAFF WORKING ON THIS STUDY 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 ABBREVIATIONS 10 INTRODUCTION 15 PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS SECTOR AT EUROPEAN LEVEL 18 1. Comparison 18 2. The European organisations 26 3. The European social dialogue in the professional football players sector 32 NATIONAL REPORTS 34 AUSTRIA 35 1. Contextual data in the sector 35 2. General regulation 35 3. Status of the professional player 36 4. Social dialogue 37 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 38 BELGIUM 41 1. Contextual data in the sector 41 2. General regulation 41 3. Status of the professional player 42 4. Social dialogue 43 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 44 CYPRUS 49 1. Contextual data in the sector 49 2. General regulation 49 3. Status of the professional player 50 4. Social dialogue 50 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 51 DENMARK 54 1. Contextual data in the sector 54 2. General regulation 54 3. Status of the professional player 55 5 4. Social dialogue 56 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 58 CZECH REPUBLIC 62 1. Contextual data in the sector 62 2. General regulation 62 3. Status of the professional player 63 4. Social dialogue 64 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 64 ESTONIA 66 1. Contextual data in the sector 66 2. General regulation 66 3. Status of the professional player 67 4. Social dialogue 67 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 68 FINLAND 70 1. Contextual data in the sector 70 2. General regulation 71 3. Status of the professional player 71 4. Social dialogue 72 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 73 FRANCE 77 1. Contextual data in the sector 77 2. General regulation 77 3. Status of the professional player 78 4. Social dialogue 79 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 82 GERMANY 86 1. Contextual data in the sector 86 2. General regulation 86 3. Status of the professional player 87 4. Social dialogue 88 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 89 GREECE 94 1. Contextual data in the sector 94 2. General regulation 94 6 3. Status of the professional player 95 4. Social dialogue 95 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 96 HUNGARY 100 1. Contextual data in the sector 100 2. General regulation 100 3. Status of the professional player 101 4. Social dialogue 103 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 103 IRELAND 106 1. Contextual data in the sector 106 2. General regulation 106 3. Status of the professional player 107 4. Social dialogue 107 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 108 ITALY 111 1. Contextual data in the sector 111 2. General regulation 111 3. Status of the professional player 113 4. Social dialogue 114 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 116 LATVIA 111 1. Contextual data in the sector 120 2. General regulation 120 3. Status of the professional player 121 4. Social dialogue 122 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 122 LITHUANIA 124 1. Contextual data in the sector 124 2. General regulation 124 3. Status of the professional player 125 4. Social dialogue 125 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 126 LUXEMBOURG 128 1. Contextual data in the sector 128 7 2. General regulation 128 3. Status of the professional player 128 4. Social dialogue 129 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 129 MALTA 131 1. Contextual data in the sector 131 2. General regulation 131 3. Status of the professional player 131 4. Social dialogue 133 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 133 POLAND 135 1. Contextual data in the sector 135 2. General regulation 135 3. Status of the professional player 137 4. Social dialogue 138 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 139 PORTUGAL 144 1. Contextual data in the sector 144 2. General regulation 144 3. Status of the professional player 145 4. Social dialogue 146 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 147 SLOVAK REPUBLIC 152 1. Contextual data in the sector 152 2. General regulation 152 3. Status of the professional player 153 4. Social dialogue 153 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 153 SLOVENIA 156 1. Contextual data in the sector 156 2. General regulation 156 3. Status of the professional player 157 4. Social dialogue 158 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 159 THE NETHERLANDS 162 8 1. Contextual data in the sector 162 2. General regulation 162 3. Status of the professional player 164 4. Social dialogue 165 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 165 SPAIN 170 1. Contextual data in the sector 170 2. General regulation 170 3. Status of the professional player 171 4. Social dialogue 171 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 172 SWEDEN 177 1. Contextual data in the sector 177 2. General regulation 177 3. Status of the professional player 178 4. Social dialogue 179 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 180 THE UNITED KINGDOM 184 1. Contextual data in the sector 184 2. General regulation 184 3. Status of the professional player 185 4. Social dialogue 185 5. Organisation(s) active in the sector 186 ANNEX 191 Consultation 191 9 ABBREVIATIONS Organisations’ abbreviations: AFC1SFL (Association of Football Clubs of First Slovenian Football League) AFE (Association of Spanish Footballers) AFTU (All-Poland Footballers’ Trade Union) AGAA (Associations of German-speaking Actors and Actresses) AIC (Italian Players' Association) APF (Association of Professional Footballers - Slovakia) BL (Austrian Federal League of Football) BNS (National Union Block) CED (Cooperation of the First [actually Second] Division – The Netherlands) CEOE (Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Associations) CFA (Cyprus Football Association) CGSLB/ACLVB (Federation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium) CMFS (Czech-Moravian Football Association) CSC/ACV (Confederation of Christian Trade Unions - Belgium) CSTV (Czech Physical Education Association) DBU (Danish Football Association) DEF (Association of Danish Elite Athletes)