Evaluation of the Legal Nature of Professional Football Player Contracts

In general terms, contracts find a field of regulation within the framework of Turkish Law of Obligations. It is possible to divide contracts into two categories: contracts that create obligations and other contracts. Contracts that create obligations can be divided into two categories: contracts that impose an obligation on one party or contracts that impose obligations on both parties. In addition, the Code of Obligations No. 6098 (TCC) specifically regulates some types of contracts in the law.

Work Performance Contracts

One of them is "work performance contracts" which concerns our article subject. Contracts in which one of the parties undertakes a work performance obligation are called "work performance contracts". Service contracts and work contracts are types of work performance contracts.

In this context, footballer contracts are a service contract concluded between an amateur or professional footballer and a club competing in professional leagues, in which the footballer undertakes the work performance obligation depending on their club, and the club undertakes the wage payment obligation to the footballer in return for the work performance, imposing obligations on both parties.

Elements of Professional Football Player Contract

In light of the said definition, it would be correct to say that Professional Football Player Contracts consist of three elements:

• Work performance
• Wage
• Legal dependency

Legal dependency refers to the performance of the service under the supervision and management of the employer. It should be emphasized that although the concepts in footballer contracts are similar to and/or appear the same as Labor Law and Labor Law concepts, Professional Football Player Contracts are not characterized as "employment contracts".

Comparison of Service Contract and Employment Contract

According to Article 393 of the Turkish Code of Obligations, a service contract is "a contract in which the worker undertakes to perform work depending on the employer for a certain or indefinite time, and the employer undertakes to pay them a wage according to time or the work done".

According to Article 8 of Labor Law No. 4857, an employment contract is "a contract consisting of one party's (worker's) undertaking to perform work dependently, and the other party's (employer's) undertaking to pay wages. The employment contract, unless otherwise stated in the Law, is not subject to a special form."

When these two provisions are compared, it becomes more explanatory in terms of the three basic elements of the employment contract: work performance, wage and dependency elements.

Exclusion of Athletes from Labor Law Scope

Although the Labor Law also generally regulates working relationships depending on the employer through a service contract, athletes have been excluded from the scope of the Labor Law in clause 1-g of Article 4 of Labor Law No. 4857.

For this reason, since it is not possible to apply the provisions of the Labor Law regulating the above-mentioned issues to professional athlete -and therefore professional footballer- contracts, the provisions of Article 393 et seq. of the Code of Obligations regulating the service contract will need to be applied to the relationship between the footballer and their club.

Footballer Contracts as Service Contracts

Since any work can constitute the subject of a service contract, there is no obstacle to the activities performed by athletes being the subject of a service contract. Labor Law is a branch of law specific to those who work depending on an employer based on a service contract. In this respect, Labor Law regulates the legal relationship arising from the service that the worker performs in any work for wages depending on the employer based on a service contract.

Since the Code of Obligations defines the service contract as a contract in which the person under the work performance obligation undertakes to provide this service, and the employer undertakes to pay wages in return for this service, the contract between the professional footballer and their club is a standard employment contract, and since the Labor Law considers the worker working for wages in any work based on a service contract as a worker, the one who employs the worker as the employer, the place where the work is done as the workplace, the footballer can be considered as a worker, the club management as the employer, the club as the workplace.

Conclusion

However, since athletes are excluded from the scope of the Labor Law, they are not considered workers in terms of the Labor Law. As a result, since it is clearly stated that the provisions of the Labor Law will not be applied to the athlete, it is inconceivable for professional athletes to benefit from the provisions of the Labor Law.

Professional football player contracts, although they carry elements similar to employment contracts, are a special type of contract excluded from the scope of the Labor Law and subjected to the provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations regarding service contracts.