Professor Stephen F. Ross coauthors chapter in new book on FIFA transfer regulations

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA—Professor Stephen F. Ross coauthored a chapter in a new Spanish-language open-access book, El Reglamento de Transferencias FIFA 2027: Comentarios Prácticos, from a symposium organized by Spanish-speaking sports lawyers and academics. You can access the full book by clicking here.

The symposium was sparked by a 2025 decision by the European Court of Justice, which held that FIFA’s complex regulations governing player transfers among global soccer clubs were overly restrictive and violated European Union (EU) competition and free movement law. Just before the World Cup began, FIFA announced revised regulations and a landmark new agreement to consult players, clubs, and other stakeholders as it continues to make changes in these rules.

In their chapter, titled “La «promesa» de la sentencia Bosman depende de la interpretación que haga el TAS de la nueva versión del RETJ,” Ross and his coauthor, Professor Sergio Gonzalez Garcia of the University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, argue that the ECJ’s 1996 judgment in the landmark Bosman case has not been fully effectuated because virtually no elite soccer players actually play out their contracts and receive competing offers for their services, as free agents do in North America.

They suggest that in many cases, players are threatened with “predatory benching”—reduced playing time—if they don’t agree to either a contract extension or a mid-contract transfer to another club, with their current employer receiving millions of euros that would otherwise go into their pockets. Gonzalez is a frequent visiting scholar at Penn State Dickinson Law.

Ross’s fall 2026 Sports Law course will focus on a comparison between American college football and European soccer.

Stephen F. Ross is Lewis H. Vovakis Distinguished Faculty Scholar; Professor of Law; and Executive Director, Penn State Center for the Study of Sports in Society. Professor Ross teaches and writes in the disparate areas of Sports Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, and Statutory Interpretation.