FIFA’s Circular no. 1795

As part of its ongoing commitment to modernising football’s regulatory framework, which is one of the 11 goals laid out in The Vision 2020-2023, FIFA is preparing to launch the new FIFA Legal Portal (legalportal.fifa.com), an online platform through which proceedings before the FIFA Football Tribunal and FIFA judicial bodies will be conducted. The FIFA Legal Portal will enable FIFA member associations and football stakeholders in general to manage their proceedings before the relevant FIFA decision-making or judicial body and will gradually replace the current system of email communication.

While the proceedings will still be governed by the respective FIFA regulations, the FIFA Legal Portal will begin to
be used for notifications (including of decisions), other correspondence and submissions on a preliminary test basis. The FIFA Legal Portal is aimed at ensuring simple, secure and transparent communication between FIFA and the parties involved, as well as a better understanding of proceedings and heightened traceability.

A. The scope

The FIFA Legal Portal is an online platform through which proceedings before the FIFA Football Tribunal and FIFA judicial bodies will be conducted. For the sake of clarity, all matters pertaining to international transfer certificates and proceedings concerning solidarity contributions and training compensation will continue to be handled through the FIFA Transfer Matching System.

B. Users

To access the FIFA Legal Portal, users will first need to create an account, which will involve providing various pieces of information. Once created, the account needs to be approved by FIFA, which will generally take 24 to 48 hours.

In order to ensure access to justice, the FIFA Legal Portal will be open to all stakeholders, from players and coaches to member associations and clubs.

Legal representatives who are involved in proceedings will also be able to register for the FIFA Legal Portal, provided that they submit a valid power of attorney. This will allow them to file and manage claims and perform any other necessary actions on behalf of their clients through a single account.

C. The system

A simple and efficient process for filing claims is an essential part of access to justice, and the FIFA Legal Portal will help to achieve this by offering users predefined options.

The FIFA Legal Portal will not only facilitate the filing of new claims but is also designed to provide an overview of all pending cases in which the user is involved (whether initiated by or against the user). As well as containing a list of all pending claims, the platform will detail the status of the proceedings, any new information and/or documents provided by the other party and/or FIFA, and whether any action is required.

In addition, notifications will be automatically generated and immediately sent to the email address linked to the relevant user’s account in the event of: i) a change in the status of a case, ii) new information and/or documents being added to the case, or iii) new proceedings being opened against the user.

A user manual providing further information, including a step-by-step guide to the FIFA Legal Portal, is enclosed with this circular and is also available on legalportal.fifa.com.

D. Users’ obligations

a. The account

FIFA Legal Portal users will be required to act in good faith and ensure that all information that they enter on the portal is correct. In particular, each user must keep their account and personal details up to date at all times, meaning that any changes that impact their profile, such as a new email address or a change of status (e.g. from player to coach), must be immediately reflected in their account.

Moreover, there is a limit of one account per user, and users must keep their login details and all information and documents obtained through the FIFA Legal Portal confidential. All users are therefore expected to take all reasonable measures to that effect and exercise the utmost caution, and any issues, suspicions or potential misuse of the FIFA Legal Portal must be immediately reported to the helpdesk via the portal.

b. Mandatory checks and notifications through the portal

As a basic rule, users receiving an automatically generated email should immediately check their account. In addition, users involved in proceedings before the FIFA Football Tribunal and/or FIFA judicial bodies should regularly check their respective accounts and pay particular attention to any changes in the status of claims or notifications of correspondence or decisions, as well as requests for statements or clarifications.

c. Sanctions

A user who enters false and/or erroneous information on the FIFA Legal Portal, fails to keep their account up to
date or misuses the portal may be sanctioned by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

E. Transitional period

As mentioned above, the FIFA Legal Portal will gradually replace the current email communication system. As a result, after a transitional period – which will, in principle, conclude on 31 December 2022 – proceedings will exclusively be initiated through the FIFA Legal Portal.

Taking into account that the new FIFA Legal Portal will be operational from 1 May 2022, the following transitional
measures will apply:

• Ongoing proceedings, i.e. those initiated before the above date, will not be affected and will continue to be conducted according to the old system until the closure of the case before the respective body.
• Anyone intending to lodge a new claim before the FIFA Football Tribunal or the FIFA judicial bodies after the above date is invited to use the portal. If proceedings are initiated through the FIFA Legal Portal by any party, or if any of the parties already have an account, the proceedings will be conducted both on the FIFA Legal Portal and by email, according to the respective procedural rules. During the transitional period, only email communications from FIFA will have legal validity and be deemed sufficient to establish time limits. However, parties will be able to communicate either via the portal or by email, with both having legal validity.

FIFA is continuing to modernise its systems so as to facilitate and streamline proceedings before its decision-making and judicial bodies and both the filing and management of claims, while at the same time ensuring transparency and traceability for all football stakeholders.

Accordingly, FIFA encourages its member associations and stakeholders in general to start using the FIFA Legal Portal for legal proceedings before the FIFA Football Tribunal and the FIFA judicial bodies.