UEFA Home-Grown Player Rule EU Law Challenge – Royal Antwerp FC V Royal Belgian FA

EU law has played a leading role in the governance of football following the landmark Bosman ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).1

Almost 30 years later, another case – Royal Antwerp FC V Royal Belgian FA2 – has reached the CJEU, again involving rules applicable to the Belgian football leagues. The case concerns UEFA’s ‘Home Grown Player’ (HGP) rules, which require national teams to field a specified minimum number of “home-grown players”.3 The HGP rules were intended to strike a suitable balance between restrictions on free movement of players and the need to protect the integrity of sporting competition. The recent Opinion4of Advocate-General Szpunar in the Antwerp case revisits the debate on whether the UEFA rules are compatible with rights guaranteed by EU law. While this is only a provisional opinion and is subject to the final decision of the CJEU, it is a further indication of the complex relationship between EU law and rules governing national and international football.

This article examines the Antwerp case, looking at