First Woman Referee in Men’s World Cup - and in Qatar 

Yesterday, in a historic first, a woman referee took charge at the Men’s Football World Cup. FIFA is keen to celebrate how French referee Stéphanie Frappart and her assistants, Brazil’s Neuza Back and Mexico’s Karen Díaz, adjudicated the match between Germany and Costa Rica, as proof that it is advancing gender equality. Significantly, this historic moment took place in Qatar where authorities treat women as legal minors in their own country.

In a 2021 report, I documented how Qatar’s laws, policies, and practices require women to obtain male guardian permission to marry, study on government scholarships, work in many government jobs, travel abroad unless they marry or turn 25, and obtain certain forms of reproductive healthcare. Men, on the other hand, need no such permission once they turn 18. Many of these rules don’t have any legal basis and are contrary to Qatar’s own constitution which guarantees women’s equality before the law.

Qatar is keen to show it has three female ministers, many high achieving women, and more female graduates than men and claims that in 2010 it was the only country to have a female lead in the World Cup bid. Many women who have broken barriers said they were either lucky enough to do so with the support of their families, or had to fight for approval over their decisions.

This is great news for women in the sport. Most women told me of the heavy toll such rules have taken on their ability to lead independent lives, including when male guardians denied them permission to drive, travel abroad, study, work, or marry a person of their own choosing. Qatar’s severe discriminatory rules leaves them an outlier even among their own neighbors.

New Term for Head of FLF

Welcome back to our football law news blog. Chris Farnell is a sports lawyer from Hale in Altringham. He owns the firm IPS Law, that represents major players, organisation and club, not just in football but other sports also. In this unofficial blog we keep up on the latest news at the head of the game. 

Paul Philipp has been re-elected as president of the Luxembourg Football Federation (FLF), the umbrella organisation for football clubs in Luxembourg, for a further four years. Philipp, who has been at the helm of Luxembourg’s association for the past 18 years, was confirmed in office at the FLF’s 104th Congress in Strassen on the 15th of this month. 

Mr Paul Philipp was reelected President of the Luxembourg Football Federation (FLF) for an additional four-year term until 2026. He obtained more votes than Luxembourgish global fund and asset management industry professional Mr Claude Kremer. 

Mr Paul Philipp first took office in 2004 and will serve another four-year term after being reelected on 15 October at the FLF’s 104th Congress held in the central Luxembourgish commune of Strasse.

"We will take care of football," Philipp said after his re-election in thanking delegates for their trust. "We're going to try to do everything a little better, and to be available all the time.”

We will try to be attentive,” he added, while emphasising the need for firm decision-making for the good of football in the Grand Duchy. “This is why we are respected, and sometimes criticised,“ he reflected.

Philipp was first elected as FLF president in 2004. Previously, he had played 54 matches for Luxembourg’s national team between 1968 and 1982, before going on to coach the national team from 1985 to 2001. The Luxembourg Football Federation is the governing body of football in Luxembourg. It organises the Luxembourg Football League and the Luxembourg national football team. It is based in Mondercange, to the south of Luxembourg City.

For more football and sports law news make sure you check back soon for more posts. Find more about Chris Farnell Charlton here. For more sports news read the Chris Farnell IPS Law blog also. Make sure you subscribe and leave your comments below. More to come soon! 

 Chris Farnell Interview on Facebook about Charlton

Former Charlton director Chris Farnell has been cleared for football club ownership by the EFL. The solicitor had his role as the club solicitor at The Valley terminated in August. He was informed today that his Disqualification Condition has been lifted after successfully appealing to an independent League Arbitration Panel.

The Panel heard that, an inadvertent mistake had been made during the initial Owners and Directors Test application, and that there was no dishonest or deliberate attempt to provide false or misleading information. Chris Farnell advises leading Premier League and Football League Clubs, leading sporting and media agents and a number of high profile sporting individuals on a wide variety of matters.

The decision means Mr Farnell is now free to reapply, under the EFLs OADT, if he wished to do so without prejudice or restriction.A spokesman for Mr Farnell, said: “Following a hearing on Tuesday October 28 2020, before an independent League Arbitration Panel, Mr Farnell succeeded in his Review Application of the EFL’s decision to impose a ‘Disqualifying Condition’ upon him under the EFL’s Owners’ and Directors Test.”

Chris’ practice areas include: Sports, Media & Entertainment. He specialises in image rights, third party ownership issues, player transfers, intellectual property contracts, contract re-negotiations, sponsorship and endorsement contracts, defamation, sports dispute resolution, footballer and agent disputes, doping hearings, regulatory issues, and both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property law.

Farnell was initially appointed by Tahnoon Nimer as a boardroom battle kicked off with Matt Southall and Jonathan Heller. Watch this video to find out more about Chris Farnell and his involvement with Chris Farnell Charlton Althletic football club. Here is an interview from Facebook with Chris. Make sure to leave your comments below and follow our football blog. Here is the Chris Farnell Charlton video.

Five substitutions in football

Welcome to the Chris Farnell news blog. Legal changes affecting the game happen all the time, however sometimes they are more important than others. Here we will discussed the recent changes brought in to the beautiful game. Football law makers have recommended five substitutions are implemented permanently in the sport. Find out more here. 

The rule was first introduced by the International Football Association Board (Ifab),in May 2020 - a month before football restarted after being paused because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Premier League voted against its continuation in the 2020-21 season.

Individual football leagues and competitions will be able to decide whether or not to take on the new rules. The decision by them follows a meeting chaired by Fifa on Wednesday, involving Ifab's Football and Technical Advisory Panels. This is an interesting development. 

The Ifab commented: 

"FAP-TAP today recommended that competitions should be able to decide on increasing the number of substitutes according to the needs of their football environment, while the current number of substitution opportunities should stay the same."

The law makers said it follows "a number of requests from confederations, associations, leagues and other key stakeholders for this option to be introduced permanently". Many Premier League sides are believed to have felt having five subs would unfairly benefit major clubs with stronger squads.

However, some leading managers, including Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, have previously said the limit on changes has contributed to injury problems. As a sports lawyer, this is something to monitor closely. 

Chris Farnell advises leading Premier League and Football League Clubs, leading sporting and media agents and a number of high profile sporting individuals on a wide variety of matters. To find out more about Chris Farnell from IPS Law online. You can also follow him on the Chris Farnell Facebook page.

 Key legal issues in Football - player transfers

Welcome to the Chris Farnell lawyer blog. Here we will discuss some of the key legal issues that have to be taken into account when players transfer between clubs. The football transfer market is, by its very nature, rife with speculation, and often the general public is left in the dark about the finer legal considerations that help shape the deals. Sports lawyers have the aim of giving their clients the best deal. These are the three points they take into consideration when doing just that. 

Image rights provisions tend to form an increasingly crucial part of high profile football deals, given the importance of generating commercial off field revenue. In the case of high profile players with a genuine commercial value in their image, a separate image rights deal tends to be entered into between the club and the company to which the player’s image has been assigned. This is an important consideration to make when negotiating a transfer.

A players image is crucial to negotiating transfers. Some clubs elect to ring fence certain product and service categories where the player has a pre-existing deal and accept that they will not seek to exploit the player's image in a club context in conjunction with their sponsors who compete with the player's own sponsors; other clubs will still look to exploit the player's image in a club context in conjunction with competitor brands within the parameters of the existing player deal.  Advisors should be very clear in their strategic planning of personal endorsement deals and upon signing for a new club, should be mindful of the likely conflicts or opportunities that club’s sponsors may present to the player personally and for their clubs.

Grounds for termination or reduction in fees of the player is important to work out form the beginning. Clubs want to protect themselves, but the players deserve protecting also. A player or sport has been brought into disrepute will result in the commercial value of the player’s image being diminished. Players’ advisers will inevitably look to tighten the wording of these provisions as much as possible being clear about what constitutes a breach in specific terms. It is important to get this clear from the get-go in order to not avoid problems later on for the player or the club.

Tax indemnities are another area where clubs’ positions vary a lot. Having the right lawyer clear this up for a player or club is important. Some clubs seek an indemnity from the player in the event of HMRC determining that further taxes are due whereas other clubs may agree to share the financial liability in the event that further taxes and National Insurance payments. In the context of a transfer, the commercial and tax position often turns on the player’s bargaining strength and how much the club require his on field services this will often dictate how far the club is prepared to ‘bend’ when negotiating the image rights contract. Ensuring that the deal is right for everyone involved is essential.

Release clauses can operate in different ways. For example, Benteke’s release clause of £32.5m appears to be realistic estimate of his open market value. Read our blog for more important legal considerations coming soon. Find out more about Chris Farnell lawyer online here. Read the latest Chris Farnell lawyer news in the Mirror here.