The situation at hand is related to the rights of a player as well as the contractual agreement between a player and his club. Acme Bikes (AB) is a new team in the UCI World Tour competition. We are presented with a situation where a rider by the name Frits Boy, who is the oldest in the team,has a number of complaints against his team. Firstly, the team decided not to field him due to the fact that Fritz has been the slowest rider in the two competitions that the team participated in. The team also left him out of the team selected for the Tour de France that is forthcoming. Fritz feels unwanted by the team for his name has been removed from the team’s website and efforts to have his bike repaired by the team’s technicians have proved to be futile. Additionally, a rival team by the name Team Sky has approached Fritz and is trying to woo him on its side.
The European Court of Justice is very clear on contractual terms and conditions. Fritz is on the verge of breaching his contractual terms with the Acme Bikes team by involving himself in negotiations with the Team Sky while is still bound to Acme Bikes. Fritz has the right to ask for a transfer in case he feels that he is not wanted in the team. However, he must adhere to the rules relating to transfer deadlines. It is clear that a late transfer can tremendously alter the strength of a team in the course of the championship. The European Court of justice has recognized that certain limitations on the freedom of movement may be justified when needed to secure valid sporting objectives. In a ruling made by the European Court of justice, it was agreed upon that:
It must be acknowledged that the setting of deadlines for transfers of players may meet the objective of ensuring the regularity of sporting competitions.
Way back in 2001, FIFA, UEFA, and the European Commission came to an agreement concerning the breach of a contract in the middle of the season. It was agreed that a breach