Introduction

This contribution aims at contextualizing the protection granted by the European Court of Human Rights (Court) to football players. Other actors involved in football, such as referees, clubs, their officials, fans or journalists have also complained at the Court about violations of their rights. Their claims are however not the focus of the present article but have been analysed by the same author in a recent book.^[2]

From the outset, it is not obvious that international human rights tribunals play a role in protecting the rights of football players, in particular considering the private nature of the actors involved in sport whereas, from a traditional point of view, human rights aim at shielding individuals against arbitrary State interference. Perhaps surprisingly, the Court has already decided on some very relevant issues. The most important cases concern the right to fair...

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