Sports Law
Birds Solicitors has been developing its experience in relation to sports law and specifically concerning football. Participants in the sports industry need practical and advice on a wide range of legal issues.
We aim to provide boutique representation to those who find themselves before the disciplinary tribunal and to advise individual players in relation to the terms of their contracts on transfer between clubs. We gear ourselves to representation around sports governance issues allowing us to provide a complete legal service tailored to the needs of the client.
One of our solicitors, Evans Amoah-Nyamekye, is a member of the Football Association’s (FA) Anti-Discrimination panel. This panel is principally chosen for its skills, knowledge and experience; it requires the same mandatory training that the FA requires for all its Commission Chairmen. The key requirements for selection were the ability to manage a Disciplinary Panel, prepare judgment reasons and be an advocate for English football’s work in inclusion and anti-discrimination and have proven ability to work collaboratively. Evans sits as a chairman for these disciplinary panel hearings.
The Judicial Services Department of the Football Association selected Evans as a Specialist Panel Member of the FA Judicial Panel in November 2020. As such, Evans is eligible to chair Regulatory Commissions and Appeal Boards for personal hearings. This is the FA’s senior panel which hears the full range of cases in connection with disciplinary and other regulatory matters of football played in England, including on-the-field misconduct, doping, safeguarding, agent activity, and anti-discrimination.
Evans is a registered FIFA match agent and a registered intermediary with the English Football Association. Evans has a strong focus on expanding his representation of professional football players and clubs both on a domestic and international level. He has built on his connections in Africa and has been appointed by the West African Football Union (WAFU) to represent the interests of developing youth footballing talent in the region.
Evans was invited to assist Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan’s FIFA presidential campaign 2016 in Ghana.
We work closely with a number of football agents predominantly concerned with developing talented players in Africa and bringing them into European clubs. We are able to advise a diverse array of international federations, clubs, teams and other participants in the sports industry. Working closely with ex premiership players such as Stefan Swartz we able to use their expertise, and global network of contacts to advise on international transfers across Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa.
We aim to build on this work and hope to expand it to other sports in the near future.
Evans is also a contributor to Law in Sport publications.