Sports contract lawyer
What you sign binds you for years
A sports contract is signed in one evening and then runs for years. The employment contract of a paid sportsperson, the transfer agreement between two clubs and the mandate given to an agent also hang together. Read one of them on its own and you miss the clause that later decides the case. Everest Sports Law reviews the documents before you sign, negotiates the clauses that cost you money or freedom, and looks after the contract for as long as it runs.
We act for players, clubs, coaches, agents and federations, from Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp and Hasselt. Belgian employment law is only one layer. The regulations of your governing body apply too, and in football those of FIFA. A clause that survives under Belgian law can still fail against such a regulation. We test both tracks together, before the signature goes on the page.
What a sports contract lawyer reviews and negotiates
We prefer to be at the table before anything is signed. That is when terms can still change.
The employment contract of a paid sportsperson
The Belgian Act of 24 February 1978 governs the employment contract of a paid sportsperson. It sets a minimum salary, fixed by royal decree, and it limits how long the contract may run. We check whether your contract falls under that Act or under ordinary employment law, and we draft the text accordingly.
The clauses that decide the case
Term, fixed salary, match and result bonuses, signing fee, severance and the release clause that lets you leave when an offer arrives. We set out for each clause what it earns you, and what it costs you if the relationship ends sooner than planned.
Representation and agency agreements
A mandate decides who negotiates for you, in which markets, for how long and at what fee. We check the exclusivity, the right to terminate, the clause that keeps running after the mandate ends, and the conflict of interest when the same agent also serves the club.
Reviewing transfer agreements
For the buying or the selling club we read the deal: the conditions precedent, the medical, the payment schedule and the securities, the bonuses and the sell-on percentage. We name who carries which risk if the move falls through after all.
Contract management during the term
A contract needs upkeep. An extension option lapses on a date, bonuses are earned but not always paid, and promotion or relegation changes the salary arrangement. We keep the dates, draft the addenda, and act as soon as a party fails to perform.
The international layer
In football the FIFA regulations on the status and transfer of players apply alongside your contract. They decide when a move is possible, how the international transfer certificate is issued, and which body hears a dispute. At the end of the road stands the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.
How a file runs
Who decides
A dispute about salary or breach of contract goes to the labour court, or to the tribunal your contract names. In football, international contract disputes go to the FIFA Football Tribunal, with appeal to the CAS. We test that jurisdiction before anything is filed.
Which deadlines
With a contract it is mainly your own text that sets the calendar: the day an extension option lapses, the notice period, and the window in which a release clause applies. Miss such a date and the right is gone without argument. Put them in the diary on the day you sign.
What you do first
Send us the draft, every annex, and the correspondence from the negotiation. Sign nothing, not even a letter of intent, before you know what it already fixes. A term sheet binds more often than people expect.
Sports we handle this domain in
Football ↗
Everest Sports Law is your football lawyer in Belgium for clubs
Cycling ↗
Everest Sports Law is your cycling lawyer in Belgium for riders
Athletics ↗
Everest Sports Law is your athletics lawyer in Belgium for selection, doping
Golf ↗
A golf lawyer in Belgium for players, clubs and organisers: management contracts
Fitness, Bodybuilding & Powerlifting ↗
Charged after a doping control at a fitness centre? Our doping lawyer
Rugby ↗
A rugby lawyer in Belgium for players, clubs and federations: injury