Türkiye: Termination of Professional Football Player Contracts
By Banu Bölükemini[1] and Oğuzhan Hava[2] Bezen & Partners, Istanbul, Türkiye
- General Framework Professional Football Player Agreement
A professional football contract (a “Contract”) is essentially a service agreement. When interpreting such contracts, the specific provisions of the Directive on the Status and Transfer of Professional Football Players dated 2016 (the “Directive”) along with the Turkish Code of Obligations numbered 6098 (the “TCO”) have to be taken into consideration, and, in this context, the provisions of the Directive prevail.
- Termination of the Contract
The termination of a Contract can be divided into three categories: automatic termination, unilateral and mutual termination. Examples for both termination grounds are set out in detail below.
- Automatic Termination
- Expiry of the Term
According to Article 19 of the Directive, Contracts have to be made for a defined period, with a maximum duration of five years (three years for footballers below the age of 18). The objective of this rule is to mitigate the risk of players being employed for extended periods at low remuneration. According to Article 430 of the TCO, fixed-term service contracts are automatically terminated once the term expires. Nevertheless, it is possible to extend such term implicitly in which case it will be deemed as an indefinite-term contract. However, this does not apply to a Contract as this would contradict with the gist of Article 19 of the Directive. In practice, a solution to this situation is typically provided in the form of an option right, which allows the parties to extend the term of a Contract, if mutually agreed.
- Death of the Football Player
Under Turkish law, the death of a party does not automatically result in the termination of a contract unless the personal characteristics of the deceased play a significant role in the performance of the contractual obligations. Given the personal characteristics of a football player in a Contract, a death situation would result in the automatic termination of a Contract.
- Impossibility
A Contract will also automatically terminate in the event of impossibility. This derives from the TCO as the Directive is silent on this. Accordingly, Article 27 of the TCO will become applicable which rules that, in case of an unforeseen event after the contract signing date, which is beyond the control of either party, the obligations will automatically terminate. Obviously, this cannot be applied vis-à-vis a Contract given that the primary obligation of the football club is to pay a remuneration. Therefore, in practice, this termination right is viewed as a “unilateral” termination right in favour of the football player.
- Conditional Contract
A standard termination clause in a Contract linked to a condition, that is, upon occurrence of the condition (for example, transfer proposal from international football clubs) will terminate a Contract automatically.
- Unilateral Termination
The Directive grants both the club and the football player the right to terminate a Contract for just cause. In parallel, Article 435 of the TCO allows each party to a contract to immediately terminate a contract for just cause. As the Directive prevails, Articles 27 and 28 of the Directive are of importance.
Football Club’s just cause termination rights (Article 27 of the Directive):
- The player's illness or rest period exceeds 6 months due to reasons other than football activities;
- The player receives a final disqualification or suspension from matches for at least 6 months;
- The player severely violates his/her obligations towards the football club (for example, not attending seminars, non-submission of required documents for competitions, and so on); and
- The player receives a final suspension from at least 4 official matches due to violations of the Working Directives with Football Agents.
Football Player’s just cause termination rights (Article 28 of the Directive)
- Non-payment of remuneration;
- Breach of contractual obligations (other than payment-related);
- Termination for sports related reasons (for example, a football player did not play in a sufficient number of matches, there are certain thresholds attached to this by taking into account seasonal games).
Upon occurrence of a just cause termination right, the relevant party has to serve a notice to the defaulting party through a notary within the timelines foreseen by the Directive, noting that such timelines are mandatory and cannot be amended to the football player’s disadvantage. Further, a copy of the termination notice has also to be sent to the Turkish Football Federation.
- Mutual Termination
Turkish law is governed by the principle of “freedom of contract”. According to Article 26 of the TCO, the parties are free to determine the content of a contract within the mandatory rules set out by law which also grants the parties the right to terminate an agreement by entering into a termination agreement. This is also supported by the Directive in Article 26. Hence, if the parties mutually agree, they can execute and mutually terminate a Contract.
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[1] The Author may be contacted by e-mail at
[2] The Author may be contacted by e-mail at
