Chapter II: Professional sport

Throughout the term of a professional athlete’s fixed-term employment contract, the sports association or company referred to in Articles L. 122-2 and L. 122-12 which employs the athlete shall offer the athlete preparation and training conditions equivalent to those of other professional athletes employed by the association or company.

The sports association or company mentioned in articles L. 122-2 and L. 122-12, in conjunction with the sports federations, professional leagues and organisations representing professional sportsmen and women and trainers, provides socio-professional support for the professional sportsmen and women it employs.

A sports association or company referred to in Articles L. 122-1 or L. 122-2 may enter into a contract with a professional athlete or trainer whom it employs relating to the commercial exploitation of his/her image, name or voice. In the performance of the contract referred to in the first paragraph of this article, professional athletes and trainers may not be considered to be linked to the association or sports…

A professional athlete who participates freely, on his own behalf, in a sporting competition is presumed not to be bound to the organiser of the competition by a contract of employment. The presumption of salaried status provided for inarticle L. 7121-3 of the French Labour Code does not apply to an athlete whose conditions of practice are defined in the first paragraph of this article.

The provisions of Articles L. 8241-1 and L. 8241-2 of the French Labour Code do not apply to the transaction referred to in this paragraph when it concerns an employee of a sports association or a company referred to in Articles L. 122-2 and L. 122-12 of this code made available to the relevant delegated sports federation as a member of a French team, under the conditions defined by the…

The payment provided for in Article L. 6331-6 of the Labour Code is not due in the event of a fixed-term contract concluded in application of Article L. 222-2-3 of this Code.

Article L. 7124-9 of the Labour Code applies to remuneration of any kind received for the practice of a sporting activity by children aged sixteen and under who are subject to compulsory education. The conclusion of a contract either relating to the practice of a sporting activity by a minor, or the cause of which is the practice of a sporting activity by a minor, does not give rise to…

Breaches of the rules on remuneration mentioned in the first paragraph of article L. 222-5 are punishable by a fine of €7,500. A repeat offence is punishable by six months’ imprisonment and a fine of €15,000.

The activity of bringing together, for remuneration, the parties interested in concluding a contract either relating to the exercise of a sporting or training activity for remuneration, or which provides for the conclusion of an employment contract having as its object the exercise of a sporting or training activity for remuneration, may only be exercised by a natural person holding a sports agent’s licence. The licence is issued, suspended and…

A sports agent may set up a company or be an agent of a company in order to carry out his profession.