Press Release: Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C-325/08. Olympique Lyonnais v Olivier Bernard & Newcastle United

Advocate General Sharpston considers that rules requiring a football club signing a young player to pay compensation to another club which trained that player may be capable of justification. However, such compensation would be proportionate only if it were calculated as a proportion of the club’s overall training costs and distributed appropriately amongst all the clubs who had participated in the player’s training.