Fair Trade Commission: "Professional Football Clubs' 'Player Transfer Refusal and TV Appearance Restrictions' Are Unfair"

Correction of Unfair Terms in Korea Professional Football Federation Regulations and Standard Player Contracts

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Fair Trade Commission has corrected contract terms in player contracts used by 22 domestic professional football clubs that prevented players from refusing transfers or required clubs' written consent for players' appearances in mass media and use of their likeness.

The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 3rd that it had corrected such unfair contract terms.

Until now, the Korea Professional Football Federation regulations incorporated into player contracts stipulated that if the transfer conditions agreed upon between clubs include a base annual salary or wage more favorable than the pre-transfer contract terms, the player cannot refuse the transfer.

Regarding this, the Fair Trade Commission viewed that when a transfer is conducted through a contract assumption method based on prior consent, the transferee club inherits the contractual position held by the transferor club, so the transferee club must guarantee the fulfillment of the pre-transfer contract terms. A clause that only partially guarantees the fulfillment of the wage among transfer conditions while preventing the player from refusing the transfer is unfairly disadvantageous to the player and thus unfair.

Therefore, it was corrected so that if the conditions offered by the transferee club to the player are less favorable than the original contract terms, the player can refuse the transfer.

The clause requiring written consent for players' appearances in mass media and use of their likeness was also corrected. Until now, clubs could unilaterally restrict players' appearances in mass media without specifying concrete reasons, as the contract only required written consent. Additionally, players had to obtain the club's written consent even when using their own likeness or permitting third parties to use it.

The Fair Trade Commission corrected this so that restrictions can only be imposed when there are reasonable and specific grounds, such as when a player's media appearance clearly affects performance or damages the image of the club or federation. The part requiring clubs' written consent for players' use or permission of use of their likeness was deleted.

Along with this, the clause attributing players' publicity rights to the club was revised to limit the club's acquisition of the right to use the player's likeness and name ('publicity rights') to the contract period and player activities, and to allow the club to grant usage rights to the federation within the scope of the rights acquired.

A Fair Trade Commission official said, "With the correction of these unfair terms, a fair contract culture between players and their affiliated teams in the professional sports field will be established, and players' rights and interests are expected to be further strengthened. The Fair Trade Commission will continue to monitor unfair contract terms in various markets and strive to enhance customer rights and interests in related fields."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.