The Individual Athlete as an Independent Performer
Athletes in individual sports — a tennis player, a wrestler, a figure skater, a runner, a fighter — often work as independent performers rather than as members of a club: they compete in tournaments, take appearance fees under contract and answer for their results. In Georgia this relationship is built on the works-and-services norms of the Civil Code — the contract type under which one party performs agreed work and the other pays remuneration. On this page we explain how these norms structure an individual athlete's contract — from the fee rules to the consequences of defects in performance.
The Works Contract and the Presumption of Remuneration
Under the Civil Code's relevant norm, by the works contract the contractor undertakes to perform the work provided by the agreement, and the client must pay the contractor the agreed remuneration. For an individual athlete, the "work" is the appearances defined by the contract: participation in a tournament, a match, a competition, a promotional activity — everything the parties wrote down as a deliverable. The fee rules are also secured by law: remuneration is considered agreed even implicitly if, according to the circumstances, the work is expected only for remuneration — meaning that where such an appearance is always paid on the market, leaving the fee blank does not make the deal gratuitous. Where the amount is not agreed, the tariff rate applies where a tariff exists, and otherwise the customary remuneration. This norm matters for oral arrangements as well: an athlete who performs the appearance is still owed the fee. The expense rule stands here too: the drawing-up of an estimate connected with the work is not reimbursed unless otherwise agreed — travel, camp or preparation costs must be written into the contract expressly to be recoverable.