EU Advocate General: Opinion in Case C-680/21 Royal Antwerp Football Club

Thursday 9th March 2023

Opinion in Case C-680/21 Royal Antwerp Football Club

(Competition)

As of the 2007/2008 season, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has required football clubs to include a minimum of eight so-called home-grown players on the match sheet that contains a maximum of 25 players. Home-grown players are defined as players who, regardless of their nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the same national league for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21. Out of these eight players, four at least must have been trained by the club at issue.

On the basis of these rules, the Union royale belge des sociétés de football association (URBSFA) has adopted essentially similar regulations for football clubs participating in the professional football divisions. Contrary to the UEFA rules, however, the Belgian rules do not require that four out of eight home-grown players have been trained by the club at issue.

Before the Brussels Court of First Instance (French-speaking) (Belgium), UL (a professional football player) and Royal Antwerp (a professional football club) argue, in substance, that the UEFA and URBSFA rules on home-grown players infringe the freedom of movement for workers in the EU.

According to them, those rules restrict the possibility for a professional football club to recruit players who do not meet the requirement of local or national roots, and to field them in a match.

The same rules also restrict the possibility for a player to be recruited and fielded by a club in respect of which he cannot rely on such roots. The Belgian court has referred questions in that regard to the Court of Justice.

Background Documents C-680/21