BGI Spain - Presentation Sports Law Department

Many of you will wonder what this sports law is, and why Balms Abogados has decided its services to this specialised branch of law.

Well, we could define Sports Law as the set of legal norms of public, private and social law that regulate the conduct of man in relation to the organisation and practice of sport, as well as the subjects that are linked to it - structure and organisation - and which, in addition, give rise to and determine the scope and content of the legal-sports relations that arise between people in society.

Why do we consider it necessary to open a Sports Law Department at Balms Abogados?

Well, we must not ignore that, in recent years, Spanish sport has reaped historical successes in different sports disciplines, mainly in the world of football, basketball or tennis. This boom in Spanish sport, its professionalisation, together with the emergence of e-Sports, is driving the growth of sports law and the need for different sports agents for sports advice.

Therefore, in a country where sport is increasingly present in society, athletes, clubs, sponsors and federations need comprehensive legal advice. In this context, we understand that a prestigious firm such as Balms Abogados, and one of the most important international networks of lawyers such as Balms Group International, cannot remain indifferent to a new need for legal advice demanded by society, to respond with the standards of excellence that only from our organisation we know how to offer to our clients. For all these reasons, we begin to recount the services offered by the Sports Law Department: 

• Clubs: Advice to clubs regarding contracts, player transfers, disciplinary procedures, electoral processes and any matter of club activity. Specifically:
  • Creation of sports clubs.
  • Labour advice and volunteer law.
  • Development of collaboration agreements.
  • Defence in arbitration proceedings.
  • Image rights and audiovisual rights.
  • Advice to sports schools and recreational campuses.
  • Defence in disciplinary proceedings.
  • Preparation of statutes and regulations.
  • Advice and development of advertising contracts, sponsors and crowdfunding.
  • e-Sports Advice on all subjects.
  • Naming rights.
  • Negotiation and contracts players and trained.
  • Advice on training rights according to FIFA.
  • International transfer advice and first registration of minors.
  • Processing of residence permits for players and coaches.
  • Advice and defence in disciplinary proceedings.
  • Legal defence against lawsuits and complaints.
• Federations: We can work on the electoral processes of the federations, contracts with suppliers and sponsors, instruct disciplinary procedures, give legal support to the decisions they make, both at the competition level and in their relations with the affiliates. Among others:
  • Development of regulations (disciplinary, competition, training rights, elections, etc.).
  • Labour advice and volunteer law.
  • Development of collaboration agreements.
  • Defence in arbitration proceedings.
  • Image rights and audiovisual rights.
  • Instruction of disciplinary procedures.
  • Preparation of statutes and regulations.
  • Advice and preparation of advertising contracts.
  • Regulation of e-Sports in the federation.
  • Advice on transparency and good governance.
  • Preparation of selection criteria.
• Sports events: We can prepare contracts, registration of brands and logos for events, advice on advertising, drafting of regulations for the event. Among others:
  • Creation of companies and startups
  • Labour advice and volunteer law
  • Development of collaboration agreements
  • Advice on consumption, data protection and sports health law
  • Image rights and audiovisual rights
  • Advice for sporting leisure events
  • Advice on Administrative licenses
  • Defence in consumer arbitration
  • Brand, logo and club name protection
  • Advice and preparation of advertising contracts, sponsors and crowdfunding
  • Legal advice before criminal and civil liability for the event
  • Naming rights.

• Athlete Services:
  • Labour counselling
  • Defence in arbitration proceedings
  • Training Rights Advice
  • Image rights and audiovisual rights
  • Advice to High-Level Athletes (DAN)
  • Registration under the special Social Security scheme       
  • Defence in disciplinary proceedings.
  • Advice and preparation of advertising contracts and sponsors.
  • Defence in sanctions for doping, damage or illegal gambling.
  • Advice on the ADO Plan and other scholarships and funding sources.
  • Taxation of the athlete
• Services to representatives:
  • Defence in proceedings before the TAS / CAS.
  • Preparation of contracts.
  • Creation of partnerships for the representation of athletes.
  • Advice on the representation of minors.
  • Preparation of representation contracts.
  • Development of transfer contracts.
  • Advice on the FIFA Players Transfer Statute.
  • Advice on representation commissions.

The new Sports Law Department will be headed by Adrián Castro, who has specialised training in this branch of Law, specifically, he attended the International Sports Law Master-LLM of the University of INEFC Lleida. Within his training, he specialised in issues related to football, FIFA rules, the national and international federation regime, soccer player transfers, issues related to soccer players' contracts and the disciplinary regime. In recent years, he has conducted several studies on the international transfer of minors and the problems of their registration following FIFA regulations.

Besides, from Balms Abogados we do not close the world of sports to football since the need for advice is increasingly widespread in minority sports that are gradually growing exponentially.

Ultimately, we hope that from these lines we were able to bring you what is sports law, and new services from Balms Abogados we offer all our customers.