One of the most important pillars of football is the competitive balance. The value of the match is directly affected by the weapon parity. If the emotion derived from the uncertainty of the result is withdrawn, the sport collapses.
Even though teams aim toward beating one another, they depend on each other among themselves. Having said that, the relationships on football are of the nature of competition and cooperation at the same time1.
With that in mind, scrapping the winter transfer window would go along with other existing tools in order to maintain the competitive balance which is so important for football. Having a single transfer window before the beginning of the season: small clubs would not lose their best players in mid-season; big clubs would not create an advantage as an element of surprise, compromising the balance of the competition; clubs would not overspend out of panic to raise their forces; players would not suffer from not being eligible for cups in which they have already played for other clubs; and players would be truly committed with their employers throughout the whole season2.
For that reason, Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s President, has said that “You [should not] be able to change one week, two week or months into the season and risk losing maybe your best player. It's not right. We have to protect the values [that] have made football what it is, [as well as the game's] integrity” 3.
As previously said, such change would be only natural seeing how regulations are changing around the world with the goal of maintaining football financially healthy and competitively balanced.
At a domestic level, in Brazil, in order to maintain the spectacle and to respect the financial maintenance of players, it was created the Labor Act (Ato Trabalhista) which aims towards getting clubs in debt back on their feet and preserving the competition4.
Such tool guarantees the payment of labor debts and allows the clubs to reestablish their financial health in respect for the social responsibility represented by professional football5. It allows the reunion of financial executions in the hands of one judge and the payment of those debts with the restriction of a part of the club’s revenue. All of this is in strictly accordance with the Brazilian Compilation of Labor Laws6(CLT).
In addition to that, Brazil is trying to pass a law that determines the prohibition for clubs from hiring new employees if they have labor debts. Besides avoiding the irrational spend of money, it would prevent championships from being compromised by external influences such as clubs that are not the employers of the athletes paying them an incentive to lose or win matches7.
At a worldwide level, the salary cap is practiced by the NBA and the Italian Second Division to name a few. This specific tool determines how much the clubs may spend per season in order to maintain all of the teams with equal winning chances and to allow their responsible management8.
Also, the licensing method has proven to be very effective since launched by UEFA in 2011. According to it, in order to take part in European competitions, clubs must have their debts under a certain control. To illustrate such institute, Malaga was refrained from participating in UEFA tournaments from 2013 to 20179. Equally important, UEFA
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1 AMADO, João Leal. Desporto, Direito e Trabalho: uma reflexão sobre a Especificidade do Contrato de Trabalho Desportivo. In: Direito do Trabalho Desportivo: os aspectos jurídicos da Lei Pelé frente às alterações da lei 12.395/11. Organização e coordenação Alexandre Agra Belmonte, Luiz Philippe Vieira de Mello e Guilherme Augusto Caputo Bastos. São Paulo São Paulo: LTr, 2013. p. 292.
2 Disponível em: Clique aqui.
3 Disponível em: Clique aqui.
4 MENDES, Danielle Maiolini. A Execução Concentrada Contra os Clubes de Futebol. In: Direito do Trabalho e Desporto. Leonardo Andreotti Paulo de Oliveira (Coord.). São Paulo; Quartier Latin, 2014. p. 46.
5 BRAGA, Nelson Thomaz; PESSOA, Roberto. Endividamento dos Clubes de Futebol e a Execução Concentrada. In: Direito do Trabalho Desportivo: os aspectos jurídicos da Lei Pelé frente às alterações da lei 12.395/11. Organização e coordenação Alexandre Agra Belmonte, Luiz Philippe Vieira de Mello e Guilherme Augusto Caputo Bastos. São Paulo São Paulo; LTr, 2013. p. 292.
6 LOCKMANN, Ana Paula Pellegrina. A Execução contra a Fazenda Pública: precatórios trabalhistas. São Paulo: LTr, 2004. p. 15.
7 MELO FILHO, Álvaro. Fair Play Financeiro e Relações de Trabalho Desportivo. In: Direito do Trabalho e Desporto. Leonardo Andreotti Paulo de Oliveira (Coord.). São Paulo; Quartier Latin, 2014, p. 39.
8 Op cit, p. 37.
9 Disponível em: Clique aqui.