The Paris office of Simmons & Simmons has assisted the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) with the creation in France and the licencing by the French Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR), for its new French subsidiary, the FIFA Clearing House to act as a payment institution.
The FIFA Clearing House is the system established by the FIFA to ensure that when a player completes an international transfer to a new club, the payments of training rewards due by the engaging club to the training clubs, are made in accordance with the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players set by the FIFA.
The FIFA Clearing House is an entirely separate entity under the full control of the FIFA and is in charge of processing payments related to training rewards between clubs all around the world.
Emilien Bernard-Alzias, the partner leading the Simmons team on this project said: “We are proud to have advised the FIFA through this very strategic operation, aiming to introduce changes over the football transfer financial system. The FIFA Clearing House is an innovative and ambitious project, which led to intense and exciting discussions with the French regulator, the ACPR.”
The multi-disciplinary team from Simmons & Simmons was led by partner Emilien Bernard-Alzias, assisted by associates Marion Labbé-Sevilla and Jules Creutz on the financial regulation aspects. Partner Julia Gori and associates, Solène Blandin and Julie Maire advised on the employment law aspects and of counsel, Nicolas Fournier advised on the corporate aspects.
