The “release clause” instruments of professional football player contracts in Brazil

The present article will address the international panorama regarding the transfer system of players, and the extent to which this influenced Brazilian legislation. In order to do so, a detailed analysis of the clauses that regulate the termination of employment contracts of professional football players will be made, examining the differentiation of values - imposed by the law - that are due by the player to the club, and by the club to the player, as of the unilateral termination of the employment contract. This analysis will be made taking into account contractual rules and principles of Constitutional and labor law, judgments handed down by the Brazilian courts and, above all, considering the reality of football players in Brazil.

Introduction

FIFPro is, according to the organization’s website, a worldwide organization - or a form of union - which represents more than 65,000 football players, including men and women, reuniting 58 national associations of players worldwide. The organization calls itself the “exclusive collective voice of professional football players in the world” and has been struggling since its foundation to abolish the player transfer system. In December 1995, FIFPro aided Belgian player Jean-Marc Bosman in his lawsuit, which resulted in a paradigmatic decision handed down in the well-known Bosman case (which will be later analyzed), enabling professional athletes to freely transfer after their contractual term.

According to a report published by the British newspaper The Guardian (2015)[1], the union representing...

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