Legal issues of transfer agreements in professional sports

Aim. The paper was aimed at identifying legal features of a professional athlete's transfer to another sports club in Russia or abroad through a transfer agreement in case of the expiration of a contract and fulfillment of related obligations, as well as through the formalization of mutual agreements between clubs and professional athletes before the expiration of the contract or in the case of failure to fulfill obligations to professional athletes specified in this contract. Materials and methods. During the study, the interpretation of normative acts and the analysis of judicial practice were used to overcome legislative gaps. Results. The legal features of the agreement on the transfer of a professional athlete from one sports club to another (transfer agreement or transfer contract) were analyzed. Conclusions. A transfer agreement is not an employment contract and is considered to be of a civil law nature. Therefore, its nature establishes the assignment of a sports club's claim to an athlete to exercise and participate in sports activities for the benefit of another sports club subject to remuneration and the provision of rights to use the player's services.