The Legal Context of a Player Transfer in Professional Football: A Case Study of David Beckham.

Professional elite football is a global industry, and a significant component of the entertainment and commercial markets (Kennedy, 2012). As of January, 2013, Deloitte’s Football Money League saw five teams earn over €300 million, with Real Madrid’s revenues in excess of €500 million (Deloitte, 2013). Within such an industry, players are high profile assets. These assets represent a significant expense for elite clubs, as players’ wages to operating revenue ratio was approximately 60+% in Union of European Football Association’s (UEFA) major league’s in 2011 (Binder & Findlay, 2012; Deloitte, 2012). Elite clubs compete for these players; premium-priced assets in the contemporary transfer market (Binder & Findlay, 2012). Thus, the contractual law existing between players and clubs is specific, extensive, and tightly constructed to facilitate the acquisition and disposal of these assets (Amir & Livne, 2005; Lembo, 2011).