Islj 2009 3-4 - TMC Asser Instituut

3.5.2. Regulations of the KNVB
The KNVB is also present in the regulations of the sports agent. A
sports agent, who is active in the Dutch market of sports agents have
to follow the rules of this association. One remark must be made,
because a sports agent without a license is not obliged to follow the
rules of the KNVB. The KNVB is an association with members, when
you are a member then you are obliged to follow the rules. If not, then
you are not obliged to follow the rules. It is important that the most
sports agents have to follow the regulations of the KNVB.
The KNVB have some specific regulations towards the sports
agent. It is not very different from the regulations set in the players’
agent regulation by the FIFA. There are some differences, which are
important for the sports agent. First, I will mention some things
about the license in the Netherlands. After that, I will put some
remarks by the ‘Reglement Spelersmakelaars’. 26 This is the Dutch version
of the players’ agent regulations. Finally, I will mention some
things about the ‘CAO voor contractspelers’.
I will start with the license issued in the Netherlands. The license
consists of 15 questions of the different FIFA regulations and the other
5 questions are made by the KNVB themselves. Some of the materials
for these five questions are the ‘Reglement spelersmakelaars’,
‘Burgerlijk Wetboek’, ‘CAO voor contractspelers’ and other regulations
set by the KNVB. These are some of the regulations, which are
important for the sports agent active in the Netherlands. When a person
is living in the Netherlands, he also has to apply for the exam at
the KNVB. Now, I will discuss the ‘reglement spelersmakelaars’.
The ‘reglement spelersmakelaars’ is based, for the greatest part, on
the players’ regulations set by the FIFA. The KNVB also implemented
the reexamination rule that a sports agent have to take a re-exam
after five years. It is since 2009 and not yet published in the public
version of the regulations. So, in the regulations, there is still that the
license is for an indefinite period. There is still resistance against this
rule. Sports agents do not think this rule is fair, because they can lose
their business. It would mean that sports agents, who received their
license in the time that they could buy the license for an amount of
money, also have to take the exam. For these sports agents, it would
be hard to pass, because they never done such an exam before. In that
way, the know-how of the regulations of the sports agents with a
license, will increase
In the regulation by the KNVB, the sports agents are not permitted
to do activities for young players under 16 years. So, in the
Netherlands a sports agent cannot have clients under 16 years. The
KNVB probably set this rule in order to decrease the transfers for
players under the 16 years. If a player cannot use a sports agent, then
he would not make a transfer on that age.
Now, there will be a short notice of the ‘CAO voor contractspelers’.
This is the result of the collectively bargaining process between the
unions of players and the union of clubs. In this agreement, there are
some rules, where the clubs and players have to act accordingly, about
the secondary working conditions for players. There are some regulations
set about the vacation of professional football players. For example,
according article 10.1.c, the employee (the player) get two days
off, without a decrease in his salary, when he is getting married.
Besides this regulation, there are also some rules about the health care
insurance.
The agreements are obligatory for the club and the player. They
can make other arrangements in the contract, but only when the player
benefits. The player is, like every collectively bargaining agreement,
protected with the agreement. It is been agreed between the ‘Federatie
Betaald voetbal Organisaties’ (FBO), ‘Vereniging Voor
Contractspelers’ (VVCS) and ProProf. The FBO is the union for the
clubs and all Dutch clubs are member of this organization. The
VVCS and the ProProf are unions for the players, almost all players
are member of one of these unions. 27 The ‘CAO voor contractspelers’
is there for every professional player in the Netherlands.
26 In English: The regulation of
Players’Agents. It can be found in the
appendix.
27 The FBO, VVCS and ProProf will be
explained extensively in chapter 4.2.
In appendix 6 of the ‘CAO voor contractspelers’, there is also a standard
contract included, which every club has to use when signing a
contract. In the standard contract, the sports agent also has to be
included, it can be found in article 10 of the standard contract. There
must be noted, who was the sports agent during the deal and the
sports agent has to sign it.
3.6. Conclusion
As can be seen from the literature overview, there is a lot of academic
literature available in the USA and about the American team sports.
Europe has not been the area of research very often. One explanation
is that the free agency in European football was introduced in 1995,
and in the American team sports it was introduced in the mid 70’s.
So, the emerging industry of sports agents was later in Europe.
Nowadays, there is more research done to the sports agents in Europe
than before. It does not mean that the literature from the USA is not
useful for the cases in Europe, there are things to be learned from
USA experience.
The license for sports agents was first introduced in the USA, but
Europe followed quite quickly and now there are some real steps to
take in order to get your license. There are some regulations in Europe
and in the Netherlands and they are summarized in chapter 3.4 and
3.5. The Regulations Players’ Agents has the most impact on the market
of sports agent. Some important aspects are regulated like the
introduction of a worldwide license. This is changing the complete
environment of the sports agents. For the Dutch environment of the
sports agents, the WAADI has also some important implications. As
it is shown, the regulations are quite difficult and for a sports agent it
is hard to follow every rule. A sports agent in the Netherlands cannot
follow every rule applicable to him, because the players’ agent regulation
and the WAADI are contra dictionary with each other.
4. Summary
The research was explorative, as explained in chapter 1.3. In this
research, I was not trying to find real evidence, but I was hoping to
create some interesting hypotheses about the regulation in the market
of sports agents. I started with an overview of the literature available
about this topic. It was clear that there was not much research done
in Europe, but in the USA there is a lot of literature available. In
chapter 1.2 is explained, why the literature of the USA is not completely
applicable to Europe. There are some important differences
between the USA and Europe. In the overview of the literature, there
are references to the literature of the USA, but I tried to explain what
it means for sports agents active in Europe. In the beginning I
explained, what the different functions are for the sports agents. In
total there were five functions, nowadays there is much attention to
the fifth function. Players are at a younger age with a sports agent,
which has lead to the new term ‘babysitting’. Not everyone in the
market is supporting this new trend.
Not everyone is convinced of the role of sports agents, but I tried
to explain the importance of the sports agent in chapter 2.2. A sports
agent has an important function, because he has to protect the players
from the more powerful clubs. Especially young players, they need
a sports agent in the bargaining process. The clubs could use their
power in the bargaining process, but the sports agent can protect the
player with the use of his expertise and knowledge of the market and
regulations. Another important function of the sports agent is the
insulating function they have. The critics of the club will be addressed
to the sports agent and not towards the player himself. The club is
doing this in order to get a lower salary, but with the use of a sports
agent it will not affect the player’s performance on the field. It became
clear that the sports agents are necessary in the market of professional
sports.
Besides the literature overview, there are some economic theories
explained. They could be in place in the market of sports agents. A
good example is the winner’s curse between clubs. The winner’s curse
is the difference between the highest bid and the second-best offer.
The bidding process between clubs is almost the same as a sealed-bid
auction. They also have information asymmetry amongst clubs. The
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