The Social Dialogue in professional football at European and National Level ( Cyprus and Italy ) By Dimitra Theodorou Supervisor: Professor Dr. Roger Blanpain Second reader: Dr. S.F.H.Jellinghaus Tilburg University LLM International and European Labour Law TILBURG 2013 1 Dedicated to: My own ‘hero’, my beloved mother Arsinoe Ioannou and to the memory of my wonderful grandmother Androulla Ctoridou-Ioannou. Acknowledgments: I wish to express my appreciation and gratitude to my honored Professor and supervisor of this Master Thesis Dr. Roger Blanpain and to my second reader Dr. S.F.H.Jellinghaus for all the support and help they provided me. This Master Thesis would not have been possible if I did not have their guidance and valuable advice. Furthermore, I would like to mention that it was an honor being supervised by Professor Dr. R. Blanpain and have his full support from the moment I introduced him my topic until the day I concluded this Master Thesis. Moreover, I would like to address special thanks to Mr. Spyros Neofitides, the president of PFA, and Mr. Stefano Sartori, responsible for the trade union issues and CBAs in the AIC, for their excellent cooperation and willingness to provide as much information as possible. In addition, I would like to thank Professor Dr. Michele Colucci, who introduced me to Sports Law and helped me with my research by not only providing relevant publications, but also by introducing me to Mr. Stefano Sartori. Last but not least, I want to thank all my friends for their support and patience they have shown all these months. Christo E. and Andriani C. this is especially for you. Dimitra Theodorou 2 List of abbreviations FIFA = Fédération Internationale de Football Association (English: International Federation of Association Football) UEFA = Union des Associations Européennes de Football (English: Union of European Football Associations) AFC = Asian Football Confederation CAF = Confédération Africaine de Football (English: Confederation of African Football) OFC = Oceania Football Confederation CONCACAF = Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football CONMEBOL = Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (English: South American Football Confederation) EU = European Union EC = European Commission ECA = European Club Association EPFL = European Professional Football Leagues FIFPro = “Fédération Internationale des Associations de Footballeurs Professionnels” (English: International Federation of Professional Footballers) Committee = European Sectorial Social Dialogue Committee in the professional football sector MoU = Memorandum of Understanding PFSC = UEFA‘s Professional Football Strategy Committee Clubs = Football Clubs PFPCMR. = European Professional Football Player Contract Minimum Requirements CBA = Collective Bargaining Agreement LAP = Legal Advisory Panel Agreement = Agreement regarding the minimum requirements for standard player contracts in the professional football sector in the European Union and the rest of the UEFA territory. Contract = the employment contract signed between a professional player and a Club 3 CAS = Court of Arbitration for Sport CONI = Italian National Olympic Committee FIGC = Italian Football Federation/Federcalcio (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio) FIF = Federazione Italiana Football (Italian Football Federation) AIC = Italian Footballers’ Association/ Assocalciatori (Associazione Italiana Calciatori) LNP-A /Lega Serie A / Serie A = Lega Nationale Professionisti Serie A = Italian Football League A (1 st Division) CFA = Cyprus Football Association CRA = Cyprus Referees Association PFA = Pancyprian Footballers Association Regulations = CFA’s Regulations for the registration and transfer of players and on the Procedural Regulation of the Arbitration Committee 2012 4 Table of Content *List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. Methodology 3. Definitions 3.1 Social Dialogue 3.2 Professional Football 4. European Social Dialogue in Professional Football 4.1 The Social Partners participating in the “ European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee in professional football” FIFPro and FIFPro Division Europe European Professional Football Leagues ( EPFL ) European Club Association ( ECA ) UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) 4.2 The genesis of the European Social Dialogue in professional football 4.3 The “European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee in the Professional football” and the Rules of Procedure of the Committee 5. The Minimum Requirements for the European Football Players Contract 5.1 The European Autonomous Agreement on minimum requirements for standard players Contract in professional football 5.1.0 General Remarks 5.1.1 The parties of the Agreement 5.1.2 The content of the Agreement 5.1.3 The Contract 5.1.4 Mandatory provisions of the Contract 5.1.5 Right of the parties to deviate from the current Agreement for the benefit of the players 5.1.6 Implementation and enforcement of the Agreement / Binding effect 5.1.7 Settlements of disputes regarding the implementation progress 5 5.1.8 Effect and length of the Agreement 5.1.9 Obligation of renewal of the Agreement 5.1.10 Follow up of the Agreement 6. Social Dialogue in professional football at National Level 6.1 Cyprus 6.1.0 Introduction 6.1.1 The social partners participating in the Cypriot Social Dialogue in professional football CFA (Cyprus Football Association) PFA (Pancyprian Footballers Association) 6.1.2 The national Social Dialogue in professional football 6.1.3 PFA comments regarding the Social Dialogue in professional football in Cyprus 6.1.4 The European Autonomous Agreement on the minimum standards of professional football players contracts and Cyprus- is the implementation obligatory? 6.1.4.1 The existing national Regulations regarding the contracts of professional football players - General Remarks - The Contract - Dispute Resolution between the Club and the player - Binding effect of the Regulations 6.1.4.2 Comments on regards the CFA’s Regulations regarding the Contracts of professional players 6.1.5 Conclusions 6.2 Italy 6.2.1 Introduction - The professionalism in Italian sports - Football and the employment relationship in football 6.2.2 Stakeholders of Italian Professional Football/The social Partners FIGC (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio) LNP-A (Lega Nationale Professionisti Serie A) AIC (Associazione Italiana Calciatori) 6.2.3 The Social Dialogue in Italian professional football and the CBA of August 7 th 2012 6.2.3.1 The Social Dialogue 6 6.2.3.2 The CBA of August 7 th 2012 - The parties of the Collecting Bargaining Agreement - The Context of the CBA - The duration of the CBA - The binding effect of the CBA 6.2.4 Comparison between the CBA of 2012 and the CBA of 2011 6.2.5 Comments from AIC about the Social Dialogue in professional football at Italian and European level 6.2.6 Conclusions 7. Comparison of the regulations and provisions regarding the Contracts of professional football players at European and at national level (Cyprus and Italy) 8. Final Conclusions and recommendations 8.1 The Social Dialogue at European level 8.2 The Social Dialogue at national level 8.2.1 Cyprus 8.2.2 Italy 9. Bibliography 10. Annexes Annex 1 : Questionnaire addressed to PFA (Pancyprian Footballer’s Association) Annex 2 : Questionnaire addressed to AIC (Italian Footballer’s Association) 7 1. Introduction It is a fact that football, or soccer as it is known in some regions, is the most popular sport worldwide. It is associated with passion, emotion, excitement and dedication considering the millions of fans around the world watching and following it. Is football only a popular sport though? Football- like any other sport- constitutes a spectrum, facets of which are the cultural, social and most importantly the economic ones for the professional Clubs. Millions- or better to say billions- of Euros are spent in and about football. Football is an industry, a very special and economically powerful one, which ‘sells’ a very profitable product -spectacle-. As a result, clubs nowadays run as businesses. Parts of the football industry are the football players, who are workers. Football players are hired and paid by the Clubs in order to be part of their team and play football so they can ‘produce spectacle’. Clubs in their turn will ‘sell’ the ‘product’ to the public in many ways so as to make profit. Evidently, based also upon the fact that players are working under the club’s control and instructions, the relationship between them is an employment relationship with the players being an employee to the club they are contracted to 1. Like any other sector of industry and labour market, the social partners in the professional football may enter into social dialogue in order to discuss issues concerning the industrial relations between them and which may also lead to the conclusion of an agreement (including a collective agreement) 2. In this Master thesis, an attempt will be made to examine the two-level social dialogue in professional football, i.e. the European and National. The goal is to study the progress of Social Dialogue within the field of professional football and more specifically the outcomes concerning the working relationships and conditions. At first, the paper will focus on the social dialogue concluded at European level, starting from the presentation of European social partners in the sector of professional football and their initiative to establish a sectoral social dialogue committee based on the 20 May 1998 European Commission decision. Next, there will