FIFA’s Principle of Contractual Stability Re-Examined
An Analysis Through the Lens of FIFA v BZ (2024)
Aoife Bradley
This dissertation examines the impact of FIFA’s principle of contractual stability on player
mobility and employment in professional football. The research centres on the landmark
judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in FIFA v BZ (2024) which exposed
the asymmetrical and punitive operation of Article 17 of FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and
Transfer of Players (RSTP). The Court held that the measures were incompatible with Article
45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Through adopting a doctrinal and critical methodology, this dissertation analyses the
emergence and operation of contractual stability within the RSTP. It demonstrates that the
cumulative effect of these rules extends beyond legitimate contractual regulations and operate
as a systematic restraint on labour mobility, that privileges club interests.
Existing scholarship defends contractual stability as necessary for the regularity of
competitions. However, it remains focused on elite European football and consequently
underplays both the asymmetrical burdens imposed on players and the intensified harm
experienced in lower leagues and economically weaker football markets. This research
addresses that gap by situating contractual stability within football’s historical pattern of
player control and the current global labour market. It draws on empirical evidence from
FIFPro’s Global Employment Report 2016 and examines the role of FIFA’s private legal
order in embedding and enforcing these effects.
The dissertation concludes that contractual stability requires reorientation towards reciprocity
and transparency.
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