Legal study on the Regulation on Professionalism no. 25/2022 issued by the Public Administration for Sports (3 – 4)

According to the regulations, a professional player is obliged not to play for a club that is not the club with which he signed a contract (Article 5-10 of the 2022 Rulebook), and not to travel outside Kuwait during the sports season (Article 5-8), but he is not obliged to fully devote to playing sports with your club or during the sports season covered by the professional contract

If a professional player adheres to the schedule of training and matches during the season, then the professional contract does not prevent him from engaging in other non-sports activities, the only thing is that the value of financial support from the General Administration for Sports will be reduced in the case of incomplete dedication to sports (Art. 9. and 10 of the Rulebook from 2022).

From a theoretical point of view, it cannot be said that the professionalism prescribed in the regulations is total professionalism.

However, from a scientific point of view, a player may not be able to combine professional sports under a professional contract with other professional work under another contract, given the weight of the professional obligations on the player’s time and effort. Also, nothing prevents the club from stipulating in the contract that the player devote himself completely to any other activity. Sporty or non-sporty

Can the rules of “regular” professionalism be considered stagnant in place, given “partial” professionalism? ‏

Legally, it cannot be said that the regular professionalism that came in the Regulation on Professionalism no. 25/2022 identical to partial professionalization, as stated in the Decree on partial professionalism no. only part of his time Club and during the sports season, and the rest of his time remains the owner

But if the regular professional contract does not provide for determining a part of the player’s time for playing sports, then the player is obliged to give enough time for training and matches according to the circumstances without setting aside a certain part of the time during the season. If the player has time left over after fulfilling the sports obligations from the professional contract, then he can use it for something other than sports

The club can also oblige the player in the professional contract to fully dedicate himself to playing sports during the sports season

Accordingly, a regular professional contract, which does not specify a specific time, can be converted into full professionalism, taking all the player’s time, out of necessity if the club needs the player’s full-time during the pressure of matches according to the conditions of the seasons. ‏

While a partial professional contract is a fixed-term contract even during one sports season according to the Partially Professional Regulation no. 713/2014, since this contract specifies a certain daily time according to which the club cannot oblige a partially professional player to play one minute that exceeds the period specified in the contract.

However, if we look at financial regular professionalism according to Law 87/2017, we will find that a player may be forced to practice non-sporting work during the season, especially since the financial support may not be sufficient to cover all living expenses, because regular professionalism does not mean professionalism. In total, which includes the player’s full time, unless the player’s contract specifically states full time

Thus, Law 87/2017 could not change the nature of professionalism, because it did not contribute to the achievement of comprehensive professionalism for all players in clubs, nor did it impose full-time professionalism in player contracts, and this is where the deadlock lies between Laws 49/2005 and 87/2017. All this is due to the weak financial position of the clubs, which the law considered non-profit bodies.

In all cases, the regulation on professionalism regulated some provisions of the players’ contracts, and did not leave them to freedom of contract, which is one of the mechanisms for paving the way to comprehensive and complete professionalism, and the contracts will receive financial support from the General Directorate for Sports.

State support for professionalism and the special legal nature of contracts with players

What are the characteristics of supported professional contracts? ‏

When the General Sports Administration issued Professional Regulation no. 25/2022, the idea of ​​a regular curriculum during the sports season was presented, and the management knew that the clubs would not be financially able to provide membership fees for the players.

Therefore, it was necessary to issue a mechanism to support the financing of clubs to pay the membership fees of professional players, and the idea of ​​state-supported professionalism was born.

The professional regulation stipulates that the body will provide “monthly financial support for contracts for professional players as a reward for a maximum of nine months during the sports season, in accordance with the financial allocations included in its budget…” (Article 8 of the Regulation) .

Accordingly, the characteristics of the supported professional contract can be determined as follows:

• State support: The Administration, as a state body that sponsors sports, provides financial support from its budget, which is essentially a budget of an official nature, because it is a public body (Article 2 of the Law on Administration No. 97/2015), and despite its independent legal personality of the Administration, is approved in such a way that it is based on funds allocated by the state (Article 12-1 of the Law on Administration).

• Monthly support for professional contracts: which shows the size of the financial burden on the budget of the Directorate General for Sports

• Award as a type of support: The body does not replace the club with a contractual obligation, but provides support in the form of an award that does not exceed 9 months of the sports season.

• Limited financial support: The state awards prizes for deformed players according to certain criteria, within the maximum amounts, which are, for example, 500 dinars for national team players in team matches and 300 dinars for other players in the team. games (Article 9 of the 2022 regulation).

• The highest support is for full-time professionalism in football: the case mentioned in the regulations on the profession, which states that a full-time football player who plays football throughout the season can receive a support of 800 dinars per month, according to the conditions related to the maximum number of professional of players in the club, and the performance of this club in the league (Article 10 of the 2022 rulebook), and here it seems that the rulebook emphasized full-time professionalism in the player’s contract and awarded the full-time football player the highest financial support from the state.

What is the support for a professional player? (The contract, not the club).

In principle, the professional regulation confirmed that the support amounts were allocated from the budget of the Main Administration for Sports, so the definition and rules of the support resulted from the fact that the subject of the support is a professional contract (Art. 1-9 of 2022. That is, financial support does not flow into the club’s budget is arbitrary, but based on the number of professional contracts registered with it

This means that the General Directorate for Sports does not give direct support to clubs in terms of professionalism, but the support is directed directly as a reward for the player (Article 8 of the 2022 Regulation), which is reflected in indirect support to the club’s budget. which disposes of part of the salaries of its professional players. ‏

Can the aid be applied to partial professional contracts?

The legislator is the Law on Sports no. 49/2005 allowed partial professionalism, and on the basis of that law passed the Decree on partial professionalism no. 713/2014, which determined the segments of financial support for professional contracts in which the player devotes part of his time to the club. during the sports season.

However, with the adoption of the Law on Sports no. 87/2017, the legislator expressly repealed all previous laws, including Law 49/2005, as well as any text that contradicts this law (Art. 68).

Considering that the Regulation on partial professionalism no. 713/2014 issued on the basis of the repealed law, its legal effects must also be repealed as soon as Law no. 87/2017.

In addition, Regulation on professionalization no. 25/2022 came with an explicit text that annulled the Decree on partial professionalization no. 713/2014 (Article 19 of the 2022 Regulation).

Here is the question:

If the club concludes a professional contract for a certain period of time for the player’s time during the season under the name of partial professionalism, is he entitled to the support specified in the Regulation on professionalism no. 25/2022?

Namely, the regulation from 2022 did not completely prescribe full-time professionalism, but on the other hand, it did not allow partial professionalism at a certain time during the sports season. On the contrary, professionalism in the 2022 regulation took a regular form as required by the sports season (Article 17).

Therefore, the 2022 regulation appears to have allowed support only for regular professional contracts that provide for a player’s commitment to play a sport for a season or multiple seasons without taking time out during a season. ‏

Accordingly, the Rulebook from 2022 expressly stipulated that the duration of the contract is regulated by the sports season for each match (Article 17), and it is no longer possible to divide the players’ time during the season. ‏

This means that the player is obliged before the club to set aside enough time for professional sports throughout the season without specifying the required time on a daily basis, and only then is he entitled to the financial support prescribed by Regulation 25/2022.

Why is a professional sports contract of a special nature? ‏

A professional sports contract cannot be classified as a classic employment contract, and on the other hand, it cannot be completely separated from the employment contract and social security which are the subject of the employment contract.

The reason for this is that the professional sports contract is not only subject to legal standards, but also to local and international sports standards in accordance with the rules for playing sports and the provisions set by the international federation and the Olympic Games Federation.

Therefore, Professional Rulebook no. 25/2022 prescribes that the player’s contract is a contract of a special nature, so that this contract is subject to the provisions of the Law on Sports and its regulations and the special requirements of national and international sports clubs and bodies (Article 17).

What are the most important mutual obligations in a professional sports contract?

The most important of these obligations can be summarized in accordance with the Regulation on Professionalism no. 25/2022, as follows:

First: Obligations of players (Article 5):

Respecting the training schedule

Participation in training camps

Participation in tournaments

Make maximum efforts and abilities

• Appearing for medical tests and examinations

• Obtaining permission from the club before traveling outside of Kuwait, or in case the player wants to play sports for a club other than his own

Compliance with arbitration

• Commitment to the rules of good behavior

Second: Club commitments (leading contract on the 2022 roster):

• Payment of player’s wages and rewards

• Comply with the regulations, including the list of supported professionals, especially in terms of facilitating procedures for collecting support from the State Administration for Sports. ‏

• Allowing the player to train with the best equipment, to improve his performance and technical level

Allowing the player to participate with the national team

• Treating the player, providing all necessary medical services in case he suffers an injury as a result of playing sports, and the obligation to treat him until he recovers from it.

In conclusion, it must be said that comprehensive professionalism cannot be applied to all player contracts and permanent faculties during the sports season, unless the clubs can financially rely on themselves without waiting for state support, which means that professionalism in the true sense is required by professional clubs that they work for the purpose of making a profit. By their nature and legal form

This means that the mandatory transition of clubs into the form of profit-making companies has become a necessary thing, not only for the sake of improving sports performance, but also for its establishment and continuation independent of the state.