Changing the game on wage setting – recent EU activities on pay and the divided football labour market

Abstract Recent activities from the European Union regarding wage setting challenge the labour market for professional football players. The Minimum Wage Directive and the Pay Transparency Directive are soon to be implemented in the member states of the EU. The directives in question are aimed at a different labour market than professional football, which is characterized by a divided labour market for men and women, a significant pay gap between the highest-paid and the lowest-paid players, even though they perform the same kind of work, and the fact that the workers are relatively young and have short careers. These characteristics may place the football labour market in a category outside the scope of EU rules on pay, but the same characteristics that make the football labour market unique are the focus of the recent directives on pay. While the EU has a somewhat ambiguous relationship with sporting rules, it has repeatedly stated that the practice of sport is subject to the provisions of EU law insofar as it constitutes an economic activity. Since football, as an entertainment industry, undeniably constitutes an economic activity, it must adapt to the new rules. This adaptation may require change, and change in established legal structures does not always come easily. Thus, strategies for avoiding or minimizing the effects of these new rules are identified and discussed in this article.