Agreements between the club and footballer as a framework for determination of the status of the sportsperson in practice of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)

Approach to determining the status of a footballer as a professional or amateur is included in FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. The distinction between professionals and amateurs is provided by FIFA in basis of legal relations between footballers and clubs and consistently conducted in the provisions of the Rules. However, the regulations of the characteristics of the sportsman`s disposition to one of the two statuses is rather low. It seems to us that this is a deliberate decision of FIFA aimed at providing discretion to jurisdictional bodies, as well as to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to consider the status of a footballer in each case depending on specific circumstances. In this article, the example of the CAS practice demonstrates various agreements, concluded between the club and the player, and their impact on determining the status of a footballer as a professional or amateur.