Legal disputes raised by contracts for professional players and sports clubs in Algerian football

Abstract

Through our study, we conclude that the contract, which brings together a professional athlete and a sports association (a sports club), is a contract of employment subject to the rules of other professional relations. It expires on the same grounds as the employment contract in general, such as the expiration of its term at the discretion of the parties. It also ends with extraordinary reasons, such as death and force majeure, and also because of the individual will of one of the contractors, who has the possibility of claiming legal damages and resorting to the competent judicial authorities in the professional tournament. But the image we had previously about the status of professional players inside sports associations has completely changed after studying the legal disputes referred to by professional players' contracts, and knowing the specificity of judgments. On one hand and according to the media the professional player is considered as a king in his sports club, who is able to impose the conditions that are in line with his professional career and shares the same position with his employer. On the other hand, he is said to be a weak contractor, facing a set of challenges, such as his run after providing a source of livelihood, in addition to work restrictions and obligations set by the administrative bodies, associations and the competent government sector represented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Thus, from the legal approach to this contract, one can conclude that this contract is characterized by specificity in terms of the nature of the work performed and the contracting parties thereto and therefore enshrined by the legislature in providing regulations different from those of other contracts of employment.