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Thursday 26th September 2024

Next month, the law on preventing sexual harassment in the workplace will be changing. With sexual harassment remaining a prevalent issue across all industries, including within sport in general and football in particular, the new Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 (the “Act”), which comes into force on 26 October 2024, introduces a new duty on employers to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment – whether perpetrated by colleagues, or by any third party (e.g. suppliers or customers). Although taking reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment is already good practice (and, from a legal perspective, is important for a host of other, existing legal duties for employers), the Act will impose a higher bar for employers to act proactively to reduce the risks of sexual harassment occurring, with the potential for significant compensation if they fail in this duty.

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Friday 13th September 2024

The summer transfer window of 2024 saw a record breaking level of activity with FIFA reporting that over 12,000 international transfers occurred across the men’s and women’s professional game. The value of these transfers reached over $6.45 billion on transfer fees in men’s football, the second highest figure ever recorded, whilst women’s football’s record outlay of $6.8 million worth of transfer fees worldwide was over double the value of the 2023 summer transfer window.

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Friday 12th January 2024

After the developments over the festive period/new year in relation to the implementation of the FIFA Football Agent Regulations (and associated National Football Agent Regulations) and the uncertainty that has ensued, the Centrefield Toolkit remains available to club, agent and player clients, in order to provide some clarity and advice on the position for the January window and beyond.

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Thursday 14th September 2023

The summer 2023 football transfer window was a record breaking one for football, with FIFA reporting that over 10,000 transfers were completed in men’s football (with total transfer fees over US$7 billion) and over 800 transfers in women’s football that were collectively worth over US$3 million.   

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Wednesday 11th January 2023

Following the FIFA Football Agent Regulations (FFAR) becoming operative on 9 January 2023, we have launched the Centrefield FFAR Toolkit to provide bespoke, tailored and practical advice to clients in respect of the FFAR and the associated implications of the new regime.

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Wednesday 14th December 2022

As Lionel Messi and team advance in the world’s biggest football tournament in Qatar, Centrefield is delighted to have advised its US based client MetaLantis on its partnership with the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) in respect of the development of the official virtual stadium of AFA.

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Friday 4th November 2022

Centrefield is delighted to be included in The Times Best Law Firms 2023, a list of the top 250 legal practices in England and Wales (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/best-law-firms-9kh6q236r). Based on independent research and nominations from other lawyers, we are one of only fifteen firms included in respect of sport and entertainment.

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Wednesday 12th October 2022

Centrefield successfully represented British sprinter CJ Ujah following his Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held on 23 July to 8 August 2021) after the men’s 4x100m relay final on 6 August 2021.

The disciplinary proceedings which concluded recently involved a lengthy two-stage process.

On 18 February 2022, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, ruled that CJ Ujah had committed an ADRV under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Anti-Doping Rules, which resulted in the disqualification of the Great Britain team in the men’s 4x100m relay final on 6 August 2021 and the forfeiture of their silver medals.

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Wednesday 27th July 2022

Having recently advised on a number of docuseries as part of our wider work on licensing, broadcasting and content exploitation/distribution arrangements (including advising various rights holders (comprising both high-profile media and sports personalities, as well as leading sports clubs/organisations) on deals involving leading streaming platforms,  free to air channels and subscription broadcasters), we take a look at some of the key practical considerations to address in negotiations and contracts: (more…)

Friday 1st July 2022

Centrefield is delighted to announce the promotions of Oliver Sadler, Philip Bonner and Sarah Athi to the role of Legal Director.

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