Sports law includes a set of laws that apply to athletes and the sporting activities in which they participate. Sports law overlaps significantly with labor and contract laws, competition and antitrust laws, and tort laws.

  Defamation issues and privacy rights include fundamental aspects of the field of sports law. This field was established as an independent and important entity only a few decades ago.

At Ali Al Hammadi Law Firm and Legal Consultations, we provide advice on drafting and interpreting regulations related to sports bodies. Our clients include sports bodies, sports clubs, athletes, referees, and club owners

. We provide legal advice in the field of sports disciplinary and regulatory courts. Our lawyers have extensive experience in several areas related to sports laws, such as player transfer contracts, intellectual property laws, labor laws, and others.

 Our legal services in the field of sports law include the following points:

  • Player contracts.

  • Protecting clubs’ trademarks.

  • Protection of intellectual property rights.

  • Rights to broadcast sports matches and events.

• Representing sports individuals and sports entities.

• Drafting sponsorship contracts and other legal services related to sports laws.

Sports law in the Emirates is closely linked to sports laws in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as it derives the foundations of its laws and follows their principles.

The role of the General Sports Authority in the United Arab Emirates

The General Sports Authority in the United Arab Emirates is considered a pioneering office that plays a vital role in providing a suitable environment that enables athletes to develop their physical abilities and activate aspects of competition and promotion. The Authority seeks to enhance the results of national teams at various levels and achieve their goals by drawing up general policy for the sports sector and implementing plans and programs designed to achieve these goals. It supports, follows up and coordinates the work of entities working in the field.

The Authority issues decisions related to announcing and merging operating entities, suspending their activities, or canceling them, in addition to approving the organizational, administrative, and financial structures and regulations of the announced entities. The Authority is committed to implementing government policy regarding the sports sector and developing plans and projects for their implementation.

  The Authority also seeks to spread the culture of sports throughout society, with the aim of making sports an integral part of individuals’ lifestyle. The Authority aims to achieve distinguished sports results that enhance the nation’s standing at the local, regional and international levels. The Authority pays special attention to the disabled and women, while taking the necessary measures to ensure their effective participation in sports activities.

  The text includes the rights and duties of athletes, urging them to adhere to the various rights and duties imposed on them. It is noted that the player is considered a short-term employee, and the texts refer to the protection that the player receives in terms of training contracts and compensation until the age of 23, in addition to other aspects related to the contract and transfer fees.

  Among other tasks carried out by the Authority:

  • Issuing licenses to practice sports activities.

  • Adding partners in licenses to practice sports activities.

  • Issuing work permits for workers in private sports institutions.

  • Issuing permits to organize international tournaments.

  • Renewing licenses to practice sports activities.

  • Adding activities to licenses to practice sports activities.

  • Waiver of licenses to practice sports activities.

• Issuing a replacement for lost licenses to practice sports activities.

  • Issuing permits to organize local tournaments.

  • Updating data on licenses to practice sports activities.

  Emirates Football is in its tenth season of professionalism. Professionalization requires transforming the club into a commercial company to enable it to contract players. The contract includes contracts and duties for each party, and if these rights are not fulfilled, a complaint can be filed with the local federation and even the international federation if necessary. These procedures require converting the clubs into companies, since the club is unable to enter into these legal processes.

In the event of termination of contracts

In the event of termination of contracts, a major problem arises in the field of sports, as clubs must bear huge costs as a result of termination of contracts or payment of salaries to players who do not participate in the matches. This is considered a major challenge facing clubs, especially with the uncertainty in the success of the foreign player, which may affect his performance with the team. In the event that a player is unsuccessful, the law may not protect a club that wishes to terminate a player's contract or loan him out without his consent. In this case, the club is forced to pay the player’s salaries until the end of the contract period, and is unable to get rid of its financial obligations to the player. In addition, clubs face difficulty in convincing foreign players to leave the Emirates if they wish to stay, which puts the club in a difficult position as it has to bear the costs of their salaries until the end of the contract period, resulting in significant financial losses.