"Champions chapuza": the Huntelaar Case.

• Author: Siekmann, Robert
• Position: OPINION - Real Madrid soccer player Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

Over the past few weeks, the Spanish media have held forth long and loud on the topic of "Champions chapuza". Total media attention seems to be monopolised by a single question: how can a major club such as Real Madrid overlook article 17 of the UEFA Champions League regulations, resulting in it apparently being impossible to register both K-J. Huntelaar and L. Diarra at the same time for the remainder of that competition?

On the other hand, as far as I know, the media have not spent much time (to say the least) examining the background to the problem: if article 17 of the aforementioned regulations really does prevent these two players being registered simultaneously, for the reason that they have already played this season in the UEFA Cup for their respective former employers (Portsmouth FC and Ajax Amsterdam), is such a ban legal?

This is the question that we will attempt to answer here.

To recap, a summary of article 17 states that each club is allowed to modify its list of players registered for UEFA competitions in January by registering three new players, only one of whom may have already played in a UEFA competition that season for another club and provided further that that player "has not been fielded in the same competition for another club" or "for another club that is currently in the same competition".

UEFA also adds, "if the player's new club is playing in the UEFA Cup, his former club must not have played in the UEFA Cup at any point in the current season".

First of all, one would have to agree that this wording could have been better written and that-as a result-it could be understood in good faith as meaning that this restriction applies only to those players who have played for another club in the same competition, in this case in the UEFA Champions League.

In any event, the rules of Swiss law relative to interpreting contracts (since UEFA regulations have to be considered as such, whereas they are certainly not a law) allows us to head reasonably in this direction.

Next, and more fundamentally, if this wording says what UEFA wants it to say (i.e. "Real Madrid has to choose: Diarra or Huntelaar"), we believe that such a restriction or obstacle is in breach of several fundamental principles of Community law, as interpreted by the European Court of Justice (referred to as "EJC" below).

In fact, within the European Union, all businesses (and football clubs in particular) and all workers (particularly footballers) benefit...