Hockey lawyer in Belgium
Hockey sits between amateur and professional sport
Hockey in Belgium runs on clubs that are almost always non-profit associations, with a broad youth section and many volunteers. Above them stand the Royal Belgian Hockey Association, Hockey Vlaanderen and the Ligue Francophone de Hockey, each with its own regulations. A player can be a volunteer, receive an expense allowance, or hold a real contract. That difference decides which rules apply to pay, social security, notice and liability. Clients who raise the question only once a conflict starts usually stand weaker.
From the level of the Red Lions and the Red Panthers, an international layer is added: the FIH, the EHF, the Pro League and clubs and competitions abroad. We handle those files as well, from a contract with a foreign club to proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. Our offices in Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp and Hasselt work together on them.
Why players, clubs and federations contact us
We act for players, coaches, clubs, federations and sponsors, and we always start from the regulations that apply to your situation.
Player contract and status
We establish whether you are a volunteer, a self-employed athlete or a paid sportsperson, and what follows from that. We draft agreements with clubs, coaches and the federation, and negotiate term, pay, termination, injury and insurance.
Transfer and registration
A move to another club follows the registration and transfer rules of the federation. We prepare the application, challenge a refused release from the club, and record the arrangements between the clubs involved in writing.
Youth work and training compensation
Clubs invest years in young players. We assess which training compensation is due, which commitments a young player and the parents can validly enter into, and what remains enforceable against a minor and a new club.
National team selection
A selection or a non-selection weighs heavily on a career. We check which criteria and procedures the federation follows, which duties the player agreement imposes, and what remedy stands open against the decision.
Club governance and association law
We advise hockey clubs as non-profit associations on articles, internal rules, director liability, the general meeting and conflicts within the board. Mergers with another club and the use of grounds and facilities belong here too.
Sponsorship, image rights and insurance
We draft sponsorship and kit contracts and settle the use of the name and image of players, clubs and teams. We also examine who is liable after an injury or an accident, and which insurance responds.
How a hockey lawyer in Belgium runs your file
Who decides
Many disputes start before the disciplinary and appeal bodies of the federation. After that, the Belgian Court of Arbitration for Sport or the ordinary courts can have jurisdiction. International matters often end before the CAS in Lausanne.
Which deadlines apply
Federation regulations work with short deadlines, sometimes a few days after a decision is notified. Registration and transfer windows are fixed per season on top of that. A late reaction costs you the file in practice.
What you do first
Collect your contract, the correspondence, the decision and the version of the regulations in force at the time. Note the date of notification. Sign nothing and answer nothing before you have taken legal advice.
The club as an association
Almost every hockey club is a non-profit association, and that decides who may take which decision.
Board liability
A board member of a non-profit association owes duties to the association and to third parties. Decisions about contracts, safety and money can come back to a board member personally when the association fails to meet its obligations. We review the statutes and the internal rules, and we advise boards before they take a decision rather than after it.
Members, discipline and expulsion
A club can suspend or expel a member only along the route its own statutes describe, with the member heard and the decision reasoned. We test a contested expulsion against the statutes and against the general principles that apply to associations, and we run the internal appeal within the deadline.
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