Sports Contracts Under Iranian Law
There’s been growing attention towards Sports Contracts Under Iranian Law Following the legal issues regarding different fields of sports in this country, especially problems that football players and their coaches face. In this article, the Iran Best Lawyer team will dive into the world of sports law, teach you about international rules and organizations and set a picture of Iran’s sports law environment. Exploring rules and regulations related to athletes, the practicality of teams’ and clubs’ contractual procedures with athletes, difficulties that athletes and coaches face, and searching for their solutions.
Sports law
At its creation point by humankind, Sports were just some games and activities to amuse individuals or communities. But after some time, these activities became the means to enhance physical ability and general health, making income centers of their own, crowd control for governments and even settling quarrels between communities.
For the past few decades, sports events had huge direct or indirect impacts on the media and entertainment industry, technology, medical sciences, economics, cultural exchange, human rights, politics, and many other industries and aspects of our lives on a worldwide scale which turned it into a still growing industry of its own.
Some lawyers and law professors believe that sports law is just gathered bits and pieces from different fields of law so it cannot be a different field of its own. But there’s no denying that the number of money transactions revolving around professional teams and athletes and the effect they got on other markets are so huge that different authorities and organizations are needed to regulate and oversee rules and relations.
These rules and regulations, whose main goal is to determine the legal rights and duties of athletes, clubs, federations, confederations, and any other individual involved with their activities, are called “sports law”. With the help of different fields of international law, contract law, and the effects it took from quasi-judicial, arbitration, and mediation authorities, this field of law is still expanding every day.
International sports governing bodies
Not only each country has specified federations holding up national events, but also each sport has a worldwide event such as Formula 1, the Olympics, or FIFA World Cup and each of them has its special organization, applicable rules, and regulations for contracts or money transfers to support a wide range of employees, teams, or sponsors. Some are bigger multi-sports organizations like the International Olympics Committee and the international par Olympics Committee, and some are specified like FIFA for football or FIBA for basketball.
There are also a few international treaties in this field to help guide these federations and organizations at both international and national scopes.
There is also CAS, as a judicial body for sports. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sports through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its courts are located in New York City, Sydney, and Lausanne. Temporary courts are established in current Olympic host cities.
Sports law in Iran
Generally, sports law is a fresh field of law all around the globe and Iran is not an exception in this matter. Although the importance of sports law has not been showing itself here for a long time, one can find traces of sports-related scripts in Iranian law.
Free physical education for everyone and at all levels, as well as the facilitation and extension of education in the field of sports, are recognized as one of the government’s responsibilities in the third paragraph of Article 3 of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s (IRI) Constitutional law. Other than that, the first Article of the Tort Law of Iran states: “Anyone without legal permission who harms life, health, property, freedom, dignity, commercial reputation or any other Law-Created rights for individuals, intentionally or carelessly, causing material or moral loss is responsible for compensation for the damages caused by their own actions.” Although this Article isn’t specifically talking about sports; but, being one of the general rules of Iranian law it can also govern sports events.
Another one of these general rules is the single article of refusing to help the injured and parrying life risks penal code which is a form of a law concept called the duty to rescue. Based on this code, in case of an accident for an athlete, the first and most important task for the executive staff, coaches, and organizers of the sports competition is to help the injured athlete. Also, since the execution of work in sporting contracts is carried out by one person following the orders of another like any other labor contract, labor rights prevail as long as it doesn’t represent an opposition to the nature of this contractual category; obviously, the reference for authorities for dispute settlement in these matters is not Labor Law, especially since the protections for workers in that law don’t apply for athletes in sporting contracts.
It is worth noting that the situation of sports law in Iran may be subject to change, as laws and regulations are subject to amendments and updates over time.
Iranian Sports Organizations
The IRI has several organizations that are responsible for the development and promotion of sports in the country. Not to mention that One of the main focuses of the Cultural Commission of IRI’s parliament is physical education.
The National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran (NOCIRI) is responsible for promoting the Olympic movement in Iran and overseeing the country’s participation in the Olympic Games. The NOCIRI is also responsible for coordinating and supporting the activities of national sports federations in Iran. while the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is in charge of policy-making, planning, and supervision of the sports sector. This governmental body is also responsible for providing financial support and attending to the activities of sports federations.
Iranian Sport related Laws and regulations
With consideration of international sports treaties (Example: International Convention Against Apartheid in Sports, International Convention Against Doping in Sports) and the laws of the IRI, also under the supervision of international sports Organizations and federations, the bodies and Organizations in Iranian Sports Law made more specified rules and regulations needed generally or in each field. Some of the most important laws of such are; The law, goals, duties, and powers of the Ministry of Sports and Youth, the Regulations of the Cultural (physical education) Commission, Regulations of the Athletes Commission of the National Olympic Committee, the Statute of the National Paralympic Committee and etc. another law that works alongside these specified sporting laws to help individuals in sports contracts is the Labor Law which can cover issues such as employment, wages, and working conditions.
Iranian sports federations
There are several national sports federations in Iran, responsible for regulating and promoting specific sports in the country. These organizations work together to promote and develop sports in Iran and support the country’s athletes and sports organizations.
Basketball, Archery, Track and field, Taekwondo, Judo, Equestrian, Swimming, Football, Volleyball, and Handball are some of the most important federations of IRI that also have international contracts.
The content of this article about sports law and sporting contracts can apply to all of them but our focus will be on the Iranian Football Federation since it’s the most elevated among them and more transactions and contracts revolve around it.
Football law in Iran
The intersection of several factors about Football such as; its popularity, international nature of it, history, and its significant market value have caused the growth of legal issues and disputes in football, as well as the growth of the specialized legal services market in the sports industry. So much so that one might think sports law itself has emerged from football and categorize “Football Law” as a profession and study of its own.
One of the signs of this claim is that since 2002, almost half of the claims submitted to the CAS have been related to Football even though Many claims are handled by FIFA, confederations, or national federations before reaching CAS as the final appeal authority. However, football rights are not exclusive to lawsuits. Most of the work of football lawyers consists of consulting or drafting contracts in accordance with domestic and international regulations and judicial procedures.
Today, most of the famous clubs in the world have a full-time team of in-house legal advisors who advise and assist in various issues from legal requirements to employment contracts and player transfers. These lawyers are not necessarily ordinary lawyers, but specialists who either have an academic education in the field of sports law or at least have excellent records in related specialized litigations at domestic and international levels.
FIFA
Asian Football Confederation, Confederation of African Football, Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol, Oceania Football Confederation, Union of European Football Associations, and Union of Arab Football Associations work under the banner of FIFA, and each of them governs in their region and controls all football-related activities.
Other than its statute, FIFA has its own legal handbook that aids any sporting individual and their lawyers to work in the world of Football. Procedural rules governing the football tribunal, regulations on the status and transfer of players, disciplinary code, and code of ethics are some of the most important FIFA rules.
Iran’s Football overseers
The main organization that’s responsible for Football in Iran is The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Football Federation (IRIFF) which is a legal entity that is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental institution. It was formed according to the regulations of the IRI for an unlimited time period and its headquarters is located in Tehran. IRIFF is also a member of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). But another organization that coordinates the games and the relations between the teams is Iran’s Football League Organization.
IRI Football laws
The IRIFF is a member of FIFA and is therefore required to comply with FIFA’s laws and regulations governing football such as player transfers, player contracts, and disciplinary proceedings. The IRIFF is also subject to the authority of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which is responsible for regulating football in Asia such as club licensing, financial fair play, and disciplinary proceedings. In order to ensure compliance with FIFA’s laws and regulations, the IRIFF has established various departments and committees responsible for overseeing different aspects of football in Iran with the laws and regulations they make. The statute of IRIFF, Regulations on the activities of intermediaries and cooperation with them, IRIFF regulations on the status and Transfer of players, the Disciplinary code of IRIFF, and procedural rules of the players’ status committee.
Sports contracts under Iranian law
Before any of the laws and organizations we named in all scopes, the main thing setting ground rules and leveling situations between individuals in sports was their agreements. these agreements (and disputes forming around them) created a practice and special doctrine around them which helped form laws and regulations that created international and national organizations to further improve these agreements or better said, sports contracts. The term “professional sports contract” means an agreement under which an individual is employed, or agrees to render services, as a player on a professional sports team, with a professional sports organization, or as a professional athlete.
Broadly speaking, professional sports contracts are very similar to normal employment contracts. The athlete is the employee and the club is the employer. The contract, like most other employment agreements, dictates the terms and conditions of the club’s relationship with the player. It sets out terms relating to salaries, performance standards, terms of engagement, bonuses, and termination. While there are similarities, there are several provisions that are unique to sports contracts especially; Termination, Illness & injury management, and Bonuses.
Sports contracts in Iran
One of the basic pillars of professional and even amateur sports is the sporting contracts. The importance of these contracts is even more in IRI since sports law is not as elevated as in some other countries. Sports contracts themselves are one of the most important sources of this aspect of law here, so they should be written with the utmost care, not leaving any gray areas.
Articles 183- 264 of the Civil Code of IRI talk about deals and contracts. So when a sporting contract is being written here, other than adhering to all the laws and regulations mentioned before, it should not be in contrast with these articles, especially articles 190- 218 since they state the basic conditions of a deal or contract being valid.
Necessary conditions for the validity of the contract
In every contract, the title, subject, parties, term, amount, place of settlement, place of commitment, terms, and obligations of the parties, right of termination, and cost of fulfilling the subject of the contract must be specified. For the validity of any contract, the intention and consent of the parties, maturity, wisdom, and maturity of the parties to the transaction, the competence of the parties, ownership of the transaction, and the legitimacy of the transaction must be confirmed.
Examples of sports contracts in Iran
Players contract
The player’s contract includes special clauses that distinguish it from other employment contracts, and this is due to the unique nature of sports. In most professional sports leagues, teams are required to use standard player contracts when recruiting them. It is also possible to make agreements regarding awards, bonuses, restrictions, travel methods (land or air), the quality of the hotel at the place of residence, etc. An important point is that according to FIFA regulations, no player can adjust his contract for more than five years.
Coaches contract
The employer-employee relationship between a team or institution and the coach is similar to the usual employer-employee relationship in the business world. The contract of coaches is somewhat similar to employment and in it, the nature of work, duration of employment, and salary are specified. However, unlike athletes’ contracts, (especially for famous coaches), coach contracts have independent and unique clauses.
Contract of sports doctors
It is often necessary for a doctor to be present in professional, university, and high school sports activities. The occurrence of injuries in sports competitions is inevitable, so quick diagnosis and treatment by a qualified doctor are very important. The hired doctors are independent contractors and as a result, the hiring party will not be held responsible based on the principles of vicarious liability. In fact, a doctor’s contract is a type of employment that has certain terms and conditions.
Employee contract
A worker is different from an independent contractor in various areas such as personal responsibility, taxes, insurance, pensions, and dismissal. Therefore, knowing the difference between these two is very important. If it is proven that there was an employer-employee relationship, the actions of the employees will make the hiring party responsible for any damages and losses. Therefore, many employers, in order to ensure that they are not found guilty based on the principles of vicarious liability in such situations, regulate the contract in such a way that the employees are recognized as independent contractors.
Contract of sports facilities
When an amateur sports club or a professional team does not have a field or stadium, it is necessary to conclude a contract for renting it. In addition to how to use the facilities (game timings, practice fields, dressing rooms, parking, etc.), financial sponsors and advertising methods, other things such as the amount of rent, payment methods, and special services provided by the owners of the facilities should be considered.
Marketing and sponsorship contracts
In marketing and sponsorship contracts as well as other contracts; The parties, time limits, obligations of the parties, and their conditions are mentioned. This agreement, whether it is between a company and a player or between a company and a sports event, is a binding agreement in which each of the parties is required to comply with their obligations. It is clear that the language of the contract should be precise and clear in various cases such as the obligations of each party in unpredictable situations, such as labor disputes, natural disasters, player injury, or sponsor bankruptcy.
Points that athletes should pay attention to in their sports contracts in Iran
1- Mention the amount of bonus that you are entitled to receive by winning.
2- Determine the time of payment of bonuses and fees carefully.
3- Mention the right to apply for a loan.
4- How to receive a salary, how to increase salary after one year of work, and adjust the right should be clearly determined.
5- The condition of salary deduction due to loss or failure to obtain the desired result is not enforceable.
6- Pay attention to the contracts so that all parts are filled and do not sign the sheet or part in the blank.
7- As a rule, sports contracts are signed in three copies, one of which belongs to the athlete; Get it.
8- Sign the contract in the presence of the CEO of the club and after him.
9- Check the contract termination clause carefully and comply with the rules.
10- Details can also be mentioned in the contract, for example, you can have demands from the club regarding the supply of clothing, sports equipment, accommodation, etc.
As an example, what are the steps that a football player or coach takes to sign a contract with a professional football club in IRI?
Foreign players and coaches who wish to enter a professional football club in the Islamic Republic of Iran typically follow a process that is similar to that of local players and coaches. However, there are some additional steps and requirements that they must fulfill. After contacting the club and negotiating terms, they must do a medical examination so they can finally sign a contract. After all that, the individual must obtain a work permit, get a visa application and register with the Iranian Football Federation. In this way, till the contract expires, they might face language barriers, cultural differences, and security problems.
It is important to note that the process may vary slightly depending on the individual circumstances, and it is advisable to seek legal advice before signing any contract to ensure that the terms and conditions are fair and in compliance with the regulations of the Iranian Football Federation.
For example, there is The Iranian Football Federation places restrictions on the number of foreign players that can be registered by each club in the top professional league, the Iran Pro League. Clubs are only allowed to register a limited number of foreign players, and these players must meet certain eligibility requirements. Or Football coaches in Iran are required to obtain a coaching license from the IRIFF in order to coach professional football teams. The IRIFF has specific regulations governing coaching licenses, including requirements for education and experience.
Throughout this process and all these steps and problems, An Iranian lawyer could be of great use. Iranian sports lawyers specialize in sports law and provide legal advice and representation to athletes, sports organizations, and other stakeholders in the sports sector.
However, it is worth noting that the field of sports law is still relatively new and developing in Iran, and there may not be as many specialized sports lawyers as in other countries.
Iran’s Best Lawyer team can provide you with exemplary legal advice and professional lawyers from Pooya Yaghoobirad Law Firm in this field.
