Exit clause (sport)
In sports law, an exit clause is understood as the contractually stipulated possibility for the athlete to leave the employment relationship by using a certain, mostly financial option before the actual contractually stipulated process. Often the clause is activated by a third interested party and enables him to enter into negotiations with the athlete directly without negotiating a transfer with the previous employer in advance. The clause is seldom activated after transfer negotiations if no agreement can be reached on a mutually reasonable transfer fee.
In professional football in particular, there is often talk of a release clause in connection with player transfers . Such clauses are used less often in motorsport and other team sports.
functionality
Benefits for club and players
First and foremost, exit clauses serve the interests of athletes and their respective advisors. In the case of young talents in particular, they usually include high-value exit clauses in their contracts in order to give the athlete an often better career option if they switch to a new employer prematurely. If a player develops accordingly well, he can usually choose the most favorable career station for him within a few months via an exit clause and usually further improve his sporting perspective.
On the part of the clubs, the usefulness of such a clause lies primarily in the financial aspect: the clubs are interested in a long-term loyalty of the player, because in this way they ensure the quality of the squad in the long term and generate the highest possible transfer fee in the event of an early sale. By granting exit clauses, the athlete's current club can also be encouraged to offer the player a longer contract period, with which he can still be given an early exit if necessary.
Regulation and contractual formalities
As part of the transfer contract, it is usually determined how the clause can be activated exactly and by what time the declaration of activation by the athlete must reach the club. In terms of content, it is also usually stipulated that a binding offer from the potential host club must be available for payment of the specified sum.
In addition to a fixed amount, it can also be stated that additional payments can also be made according to sport-related requirements. These include a certain number of appearances or goals, a certain position in the table or qualification for an international competition such as the UEFA Champions League .
application
Soccer
As early as the 1990s, exit clauses were used in professional football, albeit much less often or at least less prominently than today. So 1996 was allowing Bodo Illgner the 1. FC Köln in joining Real Madrid for a transfer fee of uncommitted 4 million Deutschmark could leave. Bernd Schneider , who had matured into a German national player at Eintracht Frankfurt , was also able to leave Eintracht in 1999 due to a release clause of 9 million marks for Bayer 04 Leverkusen .
With the beginning of the new millennium, the use of exit clauses increased, also due to the advancing commercialization of professional football. The new method in the transfer negotiations initially led to uncertainty among the respective contracting parties. While a rather low clause was already anchored in the contract when Bodo Illgner moved in 1996 with a certain recklessness of the board, the transfer of the then 20-year-old Ivica Banović from the Croatian club NK Zagreb to Werder Bremen should almost be the new sports director Klaus Allofs Doomed: originally committed for a transfer fee of 3.7 million marks (which was initially assumed to be lower in the media) and celebrated as a "bargain", a formal error was subsequently recognized in the contract in which a written form of 7 .5 million marks was the subject. Zagreb subsequently demanded the remaining amount.
Even when Michael Ballack's switch from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Bayern Munich in 2002, was of a release clause in Ballack's contract in Leverkusen's speech, the sum was estimated at a transfer fee of 28 million euros before the conclusion there. The total package of hand money , transfer fee, success bonuses and four annual salaries up to the end of the contract in 2006 was finally estimated at around 100 million euros, the transfer itself amounted to 12 million euros according to the club's information from FC Bayern. According to Ballack, no exit clause was enshrined in the new contract with FC Bayern even with regard to the 2006 World Cup .
After Ballack's change, exit clauses were introduced in large parts of football as a legitimate means in player contracts and experienced a kind of boom with the increasing financial importance of the football business. With the change of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid in the summer of 2009 the model underwent exit clause retaining its previous high point with a committed estimated transfer fee of one billion euros Ronaldo has been linked to the Spanish capital club up, 2015.
In the following years, players from the Spanish and Portuguese leagues in particular opted for exit clauses, as Spanish and Portuguese labor law stipulates that employees - including professional footballers - can withdraw from an employment relationship at any time. Clubs like Benfica Lisbon and FC Porto took advantage of this special feature and in the following years usually generated high transfer fees with talents like Angel Di María or Radamel Falcao .
In order to avoid premature transfers of their players and to maintain the possibility of a high transfer fee, most players from major clubs in Spain and Portugal are now equipped with release clauses: Karim Benzema's clause at Real Madrid is also said to be one billion euros, Isco and Lionel Messi are allowed to leave their clubs for 700 million euros each, according to media reports. By paying the transfer fee of 222 million euros stipulated in the contract in 2013, however, Neymar became the most expensive player transfer in the world when he moved from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain .
ice Hockey
Exit clauses are also used in ice hockey . Often the contracts contain clauses, according to which the player or, more rarely, the coach can leave the current club in the event of an offer from the NHL or another top league such as the National League in Switzerland or, if unsuccessful, return to Europe by means of a clause.
In 2018 there was briefly increased speculation about an exit clause in the contract of the German national coach Marco Sturm in favor of a move to the NHL.
Motorsport
Exit clauses are also used in the contracts of some racing drivers. In 2012 it was reported in the context of Formula 1 that Sebastian Vettel had already signed a contract with Scuderia Ferrari as a Red Bull Racing driver , but this was subsequently denied and subsequently referred to as a “performance-related clause for 2014”. Despite the contract with Red Bull, which ran until 2015, Vettel left Red Bull at the end of the 2014 season using this release clause, which enabled him to resign if he was not in one of the top three positions in the 2014 World Cup at the end of September .
With regard to race tracks as venues for the respective racing series, there is occasionally talk of exit clauses in the contracts in motorsport. In 2017, among other things, there were reports about the withdrawal of the Silverstone from the Formula 1 racing calendar for the 2021 season.
criticism
In the field of professional football, the functioning of the release clause is often criticized because of the negotiating situation between the club that may have been surrendered, the player and the club interested. Above all, the possibility that the interested party can negotiate directly with the player without prior contact with the current club often leads to tensions between the clubs. As a result of the change from Mario Goetze from Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich for the 2013/14 season , for example, BVB missed so until transfer of Erling Haaland in January 2020 There are no more opt-outs.
While in the FIFA transfer regulations with the section “If a club intends to sign a professional player, this club must inform the current club in writing of its intention” before starting negotiations with the player, the official process of negotiations is clearly regulated is, the current practice has largely established itself.
The alleged position of power of the clubs with which the player is currently under contract is sometimes called into question.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Nightmare from page 15. 11 Friends , accessed June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Legal basics for football transfers: exit clauses. sportsandlaw.de, accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d Exit clauses in professional football contracts: expensive lines, happy advisors. lto.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Bianca Illgner regulates her husband's move to Real. welt.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Bernd Schneider: Schnix, the "white Brazilian". bayer04.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ^ Ivica Banovic to Werder Bremen. taz.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Transfer dispute over Banovic: Werder Bremen relies on three witnesses. rp-online.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ 100 million marks for Michael Ballack. welt.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ^ Cheap, cheaper, Ballack. Spiegel Online , accessed June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ 12 million fee for Ballack. mopo.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ 1,000,000,000 euros for Ronaldo? Spiegel Online , accessed June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Why exit clauses are mandatory in Spain - and not in Germany. fussballtransfers.com, accessed June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Benzema extends at Real. sport1.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ This is behind Spain's clauses. sport1.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Neymar moves to PSG. Spiegel Online , accessed June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Grenier signs contract: Roosters advance planning. come-on.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Release clause in the contract: This happens if Kahun doesn't make it in the NHL. merkur.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ National coach Sturm without an exit clause for NHL offer. wz.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Sturm has no release clause for the NHL. rp-online.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ^ Formula 1 2012: Secret release clause in Vettel's Red Bull contract. speed-magazin., accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Roman Wittemeier: "Vettel: 'Has nothing to do with the results'". Motorsport-Total.com, October 4, 2014, accessed October 4, 2014 .
- ↑ Formula 1 premiere track before the end! sportbild.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ BVB traded Haaland's exit clause upwards. Welt Online , accessed June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Exit clauses in professional football: News from the livestock market. sueddeutsche.de , accessed on June 25, 2020 .
