Sports lawyer and attorney-at-law Ilya Skoropashkin explained whether the transfer of Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk to Spanish side Girona Artem Dovbyk is impossible this winter, and whether there is a legal path for the player to change clubs during the winter transfer window.
Dovbyk's agent Oleksiy Lundovskiy said that it would be impossible to transfer his client this winter, as Artem has already played for two different clubs this season - Girona and Dnipro-1 (two matches in the Champions League qualifiers). However, as it turned out, there is an important legal nuance.
- Dovbyk's agent broke all the transfer rumour headings, saying that even if a club wanted to buy Artem right now, they would not be able to for legal reasons. Is this true?
- The general rule is that a footballer can be registered for three clubs, but play in official matches for only two of them during one season. However, there is also an exception to this rule when a player can play for a third club during the relevant period. To do so, the following three conditions must be met:
- Let's speak in human terms. It turns out that Dovbyk really cannot move to another club? Where will he be able to apply or nowhere at all?
- There is a nuance. The regulations also provide for the right to play for a third club for one season in the event of early termination of the previous contract unilaterally (in the presence of gross violations).
In other words, it is quite possible to move to a third club during this transfer window, but the likelihood of playing for such a third club is very unlikely.
- So, he will not be able to play in the same team as Messi or play under the leadership of Maxim Shatsky at Pakhtakor (the Uzbek championship starts in March) until the summer, when the season in Ukraine and Spain ends?
- Yes, that's right. When the season ends in Spain, where he has signed a new contract.
- If not for two matches in the Champions League at the beginning of the season for Dnipro-1, Dovbyk could have easily moved to a conditional Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in the winter?
- If he was only registered for Dnipro-1 and did not take part in any matches with his team, Girona would have been the first club he played for this season. In this case, he would have had more transfer opportunities.
- Why were such restrictions introduced?
- According to FIFA itself, the rationale for this approach is to create a level playing field around the world and protect the sporting integrity of various competitions. Organised football should be able to rely on a single system of regulations that is binding on all participants, as the results on the playing field can only be compared and evaluated when all participants do so under the same conditions.
- So these rules really apply everywhere?
- All clubs, wherever they are, should register players under the same rules. This is especially important when considering continental and international championships as well as national championships, given that qualification for continental competitions is usually based on the results of national championships.
Likewise, in an increasingly globalised football world, uniform rules on how a player can be registered with a club serve, at least to some extent, to protect smaller clubs and, as far as possible, to ensure that all players are treated equally, regardless of where they play football.
- In simple terms, to make football more predictable and stable?
- Yes, exactly. So that there is no chaos in the transfer system.
Andriy Shevchenko