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The Sporting Exemption In European Case Law, Marios Papaloukas

Marios Papaloukas

In the early nineties, when the “Bosman” case arose, sports authorities were faced with a great challenge. The widely accepted autonomy and self-regulation of the sports sector was at stake. If sports were to be treated as just another economic activity without exceptions and if its specific characteristics were not recognised, the whole athletic establishment would be endangered. Since then there were many efforts both from member states and from sports entities in order to establish the so called “sporting exemption” on a political level as well as before the European Court of Justice (henceforth ECJ). The “Olympique Lyonnais” case …