The Legal Status of a Sports Club
Every element of team contracting — the agreements with players, coaches, sponsors and landlords — fits around one organizational core: the sports club. Under the Law of Georgia on Sport, a sports club is a legal person that conducts its activity in accordance with the law, the legislation in force and its own charter, and the status of a sports club is granted to an organization whose constituent documents satisfy the requirements of Georgian legislation and of the relevant national sports federation (Article 11).
The club's leadership has the priority right to present its members for transfer with the consent of the national sports federation. This knot determines the whole architecture of team contracts: the transfer, the transfer fee and the conditions of a player's move are resolved within the framework of the relationship between the club and the federation, and any international move must be planned with this rule in view.
The Social Protection of Athletes and Specialists
The substantive boundaries of team contracts are set by the layer of social protection: the state and the relevant sports organization ensure the social protection of athletes, sports specialists and other workers, and the corresponding legislation applies to them (Article 22, part 1). A professional athlete is granted the right to a pension on the preferential terms and in the amount established by legislation for persons working in arduous conditions (part 2).
An athlete who suffered an injury during participation in a competition, training or another sports event, or who contracted a professional illness or became a person with disabilities, is covered by Georgian social protection legislation (part 3). In drafting contracts these norms operate as a minimum standard: terms that diminish an athlete's statutory protection become doubtful in their contractual extension.
Sources of Funding and the Contractual Ecosystem
The financial foundation of a team is multi-source by law. The state promotes the development of sport and provides for budgetary funding; funds allocated for the development of sport are reflected in a separate line in state and local budgets, and state funds are distributed on the basis of proposals of sports organizations by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport and by local self-government bodies (Article 23, parts 1–3).
Financing also draws on contributions of state, private and public organizations, institutions and individuals; profit from the club's own sporting, commercial, advertising and intermediary activity; and funds received from sponsors and other assistance (part 4). Funds from non-budgetary sources do not affect the amount of state budget allocations, while the non-purpose use of contributions designated for sport is inadmissible (parts 5 and 8).