Basketball: Commission asks Spain to end indirect discrimination towards players from other Member States
The European Commission has requested Spain to change its rules on the composition of basketball teams as the current quotas for locally trained players lead to indirect indiscrimination towards players from other Member States.
The Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) and the Spanish Association of Basketball Clubs (ACB) require that teams taking part in their competitions include a minimum number of locally trained players:
EU players who between 13 and 19 years old have been registered with a club member of the FEB for three seasons. Since this condition is more easily met by Spanish players, this is liable to put players from other Member States at a particular disadvantage.
EU law forbids indirect discrimination unless the measures pursue a legitimate objective, are appropriate and do not go beyond what is necessary to attain it. While accepting as legitimate the objectives put forward by Spain to justify these rules (encouraging the recruitment and training of young players and protecting the balance of competitions), the Commission considers that Spain has failed to show the appropriateness and proportionality of the concrete quotas for each competition.
Indeed, only the quotas for teams of 11 players in the Liga Endesa and Femenina (36% of total players) could be comparable in terms of restrictive effects to the Home Grown Player UEFA rule (32% of the posts in each team), for which the Commission has not raised objections so far. The quotas for the other competitions and/or configuration of teams, on the contrary, result in reserving for locally trained players between 40% and 88% of the jobs available in the basketball teams. The Commission's request takes the form of a 'reasoned opinion' under EU infringement procedures. Spain now has two months to notify of the measures taken to remedy this situation. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer Spain to the EU's Court of Justice.
(for more information: J. Todd - Tel. +32 229 94107 - Mobile +32 498 99 4107)
