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Frans de Weger

Attorney-at-law | Partner

Frans de Weger, in 2023 for the third time included in the list of the world’s leading sports lawyers by one of the world’s leading directories of legal practitioners Who’s Who Legal, has been working in sports law for almost twenty years. He has extensive experience with and is often involved in legal proceedings in sports, in particular national and international professional football, including the KNVB, FIFA and the highest international arbitration court for sport, CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport).

Since 2015, Frans has been appointed as CAS arbitrator on the proposal of the European Club Association (ECA). This appointment made him the youngest Dutch CAS-arbiter ever and also the second youngest CAS-arbiter worldwide. Most of the international disputes in which Frans is involved concern international football disputes, regarding disputes between players, clubs and agents, international transfers, overdue payments, resale clauses, training fees and solidarity contributions.

Frans is regularly appointed by the parties as co-arbiter, and as Sole Arbitrator or President by the CAS.

In 2021 Frans has been appointed for a period of 4 years as Chairman of the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC), the committee that deals with the international employment and transfer related legal disputes between players and clubs and in 2023 Frans was reappointed again for a four-year term as arbitrator at the CAS.

Frans is also the author of two editions of The Jurisprudence of the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (2008 and 2016). These books provide a detailed overview of all jurisprudence published between 2001 and 2016. The books contain an analysis of all published DRC cases. Special attention is paid to the composition of the DRC, its relationship with national law, its jurisdiction, the resulting means of implementation and the appeal procedure to the CAS.

Background

After his studies, Frans worked at the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) as a legal assistant, as a licensed player’s agent and for seven years at the organisation for Dutch professional football clubs, the Federation of Professional Football Organisations (FBO). At the FBO, he was able to further specialise in national and international football law and regularly advised on legal issues, including player contracts, national and international transfers, training fees and solidarity contributions. Over the years he has successfully assisted many Dutch professional football clubs in national and international disputes. Meanwhile, Frans has extensive experience in proceedings before the KNVB’s arbitration board, FIFA (PSC and DRC) and CAS.

Given his specialised knowledge of dispute resolution in sport and the legal aspects of football transfers, in addition to his role as arbitrator at CAS and Chairman of the FIFA DRC, Frans is regularly asked as a lawyer by professional football organisations, players, agents and umbrella organisations within football. Frans also gives various lectures, among others at the Dutch academy Academie voor de Rechtspraktijk and is a regular guest lecturer at a variety of universities, such as the University of Amsterdam, and in the management course professional football of Dutch FA.

Expertise

  • (Inter)national dispute resolution
  • Arbitration
  • General contract law

Languages

  • Dutch, English

Side activities

  • Arbitrator Court of Arbitration for Sport
  • Chairman FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber
  • Chariman of the Dutch Association for Sport and Law
  • Editor & initiator legal magazine ‘Voetbal en Sportjuridische Zaken’ (VSZ)
  • Peer reviewer International Sports Law Journal (ISLJ)
  • Former alternate member Parlement Dutch Bar Association
  • Member financial committee Dutch Bar Association Noord-Holland

Publications

Contact details