THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, September 13 /PRNewswire/ --     There have been several recent landmark initiatives relating to the
relationship between sport and EU Law.

First of all, UEFA promoted an "Independent European Sport Review", best
known as the "Arnaut report", which was published in October 2006. This
report strongly supports the increased autonomy of international sports
governing bodies from EU Law.

In March 2007, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on "The
Future of Professional Football in Europe", the content of which was partly
based on the Arnaut report.

On 11 July 2007, the European Commission published its "White Paper on
Sport".

On 13 July 2007, UEFA issued a joint press statement together with other
European federations (ice hockey, basketball, handball, rugby and volleyball)
calling for "firmer conclusions from the European Union to aid the future
development of sport". In particular, these federations want "the appropriate
inclusion of sport in the reform treaty", aimed at "fully recognising the
autonomy and specificity of sport as well as the central role and
independence of the sports federations in organising, regulating and
promoting their respective sports".

In order to contribute to the diversity of the debate, the ASSER
International Sports Law Centre has commissioned Professor Melchior Wathelet,
Universities of Louvain and LiÚge and a former Member of the European Court
of Justice, to analyse the relationship between sport (and in particular
professional football) and EU law, particularly in the light of the
above-mentioned documents.

Professor Melchior Wathelet was asked to analyse the findings of the
Arnaut report, in present and future perspectives, also taking into account
the economic and political aspects of the issues at stake.

Professor Wathelet concludes his Report as follows:

"(...) the future of professional sport should not be outside Community
law which, as interpreted by the European Court and the European Commission,
is probably the best guarantee of maintaining flourishing competition between
national teams on the one hand and the development of truly European club
football on the other.

"When the need really arises, as is the case with regard to the questions
of the international match schedule and player availability for national
teams, there can be no doubt that the scope of the application of Community
law in the sports sector will be refined by the ECJ (...). Far from being a
source of legal uncertainty, this jurisprudence will help consolidate and
clarify the rights and obligations of the sector's various parties under EU
Law."

For the full text of Professor Wathelet's Report entitled "Sur l'avenir
des relations entre la gouvernance du sport européen et particuliÚrement
celle du football professionnel et l'ordre juridique communautaire" / "On the
future relationship between governance in European sport and in particular
professional football and the European Union legal order", visit:
http://www.sportslaw.nl under NEWS.