Valencia's bar dedicates a workshop to the CJEU ruling on the FIFA agents regulation

The Sports Law Section of the Ilustre Colegio de la Abogacía de Valencia (ICAV) is organising a workshop on the Court of Justice of the EU ruling on the FIFA agents regulation, one of the European judgments with the greatest practical impact on sports law in recent years.

Practical details

• Date: 9 December 2026
• Time: 4.30 pm to 7.30 pm
• Format: in person and online
• Organiser: ICAV Sports Law Section
• Registration: not yet open, according to the bar's listing

Why this ruling matters

The FIFA agents regulation has been one of the most litigated texts in recent professional sport. Its rules on agent licensing, caps on commissions and transparency obligations have been challenged in several European countries, with contradictory national rulings that made the CJEU's intervention the reference the whole sector was waiting for.

For lawyers advising clubs, players, representation agencies or intermediaries, the Court of Justice's judgment determines which parts of the regulation are compatible with EU competition law and the freedom to provide services, and therefore which contracting and remuneration structures remain viable in daily practice.

What is at stake in the agents regulation

The FIFA agents regulation introduced deep changes in professional football intermediation: a licensing requirement to practise, caps on the commissions agents can earn on transfers, transparency rules and its own dispute-resolution system. The sector's reaction was immediate, with lawsuits and interim measures in several countries suspending parts of the regulation while its compatibility with European law was decided.

The CJEU judgment analyses precisely that compatibility, along two axes: whether the commission caps and the regulation's obligations respect EU competition rules, and whether they justifiably limit the freedom to conduct a business and to provide services. Reading it closely requires more than the headline: the representation contracts signed in every transfer window depend on it.

Sports law, on the rise as a specialty

The workshop comes at a moment of expansion for sports law as a practice area in Spain: the professionalisation of the leagues, litigation around agents and the cascade of European rulings on the European sport model have turned a once-marginal specialty into an active niche for firms of several sizes.

The hybrid format, in person in Valencia and online, makes it easier for lawyers from any province to attend, and the late-afternoon schedule fits around the working day.

Who should attend

Although the workshop comes from the Sports Law Section, its content interests a wider spectrum: commercial lawyers negotiating representation contracts, employment lawyers with athlete clients, and advisers to intermediation agencies who need to know what part of their business model survives the ruling. It is also a good entry point for anyone considering sports law as a new practice line.

The workshop listing is available on the ICAV website, which will update the registration opening in the coming weeks.

The workshop joins a year-end legal training calendar filling up with proposals from several bars, from AI conference cycles to November's specialty congresses. For those working with sports clients, 9 December is a date to reserve, with the advantage that registration has not yet opened and planning can be done with margin. Keeping an eye on the bar's website in the coming weeks is advisable, as places in hybrid formats tend to go quickly for single-topic sessions with strong practical focus.

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