THE ISSUES OF LEGAL LIABILITY IN TRANSFER RELATIONS

A transfer contract is a specific type of legal contract, which can be regulated not only by civil law but also by the corporate rules of sports federations. The regulation of transfer contracts in football is particularly relevant, as the Russian Football Union (RFU) regulates each stage of transfer relations in detail. Specifically, the RFU Regulations establish sanctions for violating the procedure of athlete transfer. These sanctions can be applied to both sports clubs and athletes. At the same time, the legal nature of these sanctions remains ambiguous, as the RFU is not a governmental body authorized to hold individuals legally liable. Nevertheless, the doctrine often highlights the concept of sports liability as a unique type of liability because the RFU has the authority to hold individuals liable under this type of liability. In addition to sports liability, the possibility of holding participants in transfer relations liable under civil law remains debatable. On the one hand, a transfer contract is a civil law agreement and, accordingly, the general provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on obligations should apply to it. On the other hand, questions arise about the possibility of combining civil sanctions with sports sanctions and about the possibility of considering civil liability prior to sports liability. In this article, the authors answered the above questions and structured the liability systems in transfer relations. Conclusions were made about situations in which sports or civil liability is applied, as well as about the possibility of applying both types of liability for a single violation by a sports club or a football player.