Hengeler Mueller represents Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) before the European Court of Justice in landmark antitrust proceedings concerning admissibility of regulations governing players’ agents (FFAR) (C-209/23)

On 6 January 2023, the FIFA Council published the FIFA Football Agent Regulations (FFAR). This set of regulations establishes the framework governing, amongst others, the remuneration, activities and conduct of football agents. Within these regulations, the FFAR set limits on the fees charged by football agents and introduce further provisions regarding conflicts of interest and contractual terms. The applicants in the main proceedings (including player agent RRC Sports) brought an action for an injunction before the Mainz Regional Court seeking to prohibit the application of certain provisions of the FFAR on the grounds that, amongst others, they infringe European competition law. The Mainz Regional Court stayed the proceedings and, due to doubts regarding the interpretation of EU law, referred the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling on whether various provisions of the FFAR adopted by FIFA are compatible with Articles 101, 102 and 56 TFEU, as well as Article 6 of the GDPR.

In its judgment of 16 July 2026, the CJEU ruled that key elements of the FFAR, such as the licensing requirement for agents, the service fee cap, the prohibition of multiple representation and the client pays rule, can be justified and thus permissible under competition law (C-209/23). The proceedings will now continue before the Mainz Regional Court. The same applies to parallel proceedings before other German courts, which are currently stayed pending the preliminary ruling proceedings.

Hengeler Mueller represents FIFA before the CJEU, together with Ashurst Perkins Coie and Benoit Keane Legal.

Hengeler Mueller team for FIFA   

Antitrust/European Law: Sarah Milde Lodde (partner, Munich), Malte Frank (counsel, Berlin, both lead), Albrecht Conrad (partner, London), Philipp Wippermann (Berlin), Lukas Kleeberger (both senior associate), Viola Pless (both Munich), Larissa Ruch (Düsseldorf, both associate).