A dispute around a player's transfer — refusal of consent, questions of national-team eligibility, conflict between clubs — rests in Georgia on several norms of the Law on Sport, and knowing them determines who is right. The law establishes the status of the sports club and the right to present a member for transfer, the rules of membership in national teams, the state lever of suspending a federation's leadership, and the general liability norm. On this page we explain how these four layers work in a transfer dispute.
The Sports Club and the Right to Present for Transfer
The first anchor of the dispute is the club's status. A sports club conducts its activity in accordance with the Law on Sport, the legislation in force and its own statutes, and is a legal entity; status is granted to an organization whose founding documents satisfy the requirements of Georgian legislation and of the respective national sports federation. The decisive norm for transfers is this: the preferential right of the club's leadership is to present its members for transfer with the consent of the national sports federation. The legal route of a transfer thus rests on two consents: the club's decision to present the member for transfer and the national federation's consent. A dispute in which either component is refused — the club declines to present, or the federation withholds consent — turns precisely around this norm: the parties must show that their position fits the rule or rests on a distinct ground.
National Teams and Eligibility
The second battleground is the eligibility rules of national teams. The national teams of Georgia are prepared and staffed by the national sports federations; a member of a national team may participate in any sports competition with the consent of the federation of the respective sport. Two strict prohibitions stand here: a citizen of Georgia has no right to compete as part of another country's national team, and a foreign citizen or a stateless person may not compete in the name of Georgia's national team. There is one exception: with the consent of the international federation, a foreign citizen residing abroad who holds compatriot status has the right to participate in sports competitions in the name of Georgia, as part of the national team. In transfer-related disputes these norms are often decisive: a player's move abroad and an attempt to play for another country's team conflict with the law directly, and the federation's position on this question must be legally substantiated.