State Aid to Football Clubs

João Miguel Parada Correia

Keywords

State aid; Football Clubs; Sports; Competition Law; European Union; Internal Market

Abstract

This article focuses on the theme of State aid, more specifically, the public aid granted to football sports clubs, and how these, similar to what happens in the other markets where competition laws prevail, may conflict with the national and european imperative of an unrestricted competition, free from distortions. It is intended, above all, to understand if there is a real submission of sport to the discipline of competition law, and, similarly, if there is an effective control of state aid in what concerns to football clubs. The analysis stands out mainly because of the realization of the unique specificities of the sports sector, which is a market with its own distinctive characteristics, not verifiable in any other. Furthermore, it’s undeniable the importance that football, especially professional clubs, as well as the national teams of each country, assume currently for the community, as well as the media attention that they are involved in, by which it is useful and interesting an analysis from the perspective of competition to the normative paradigm that governs the relations between the State(s) and professional football clubs.