e sporting industry is one of the mostlucrative in the world. With growing social and mediainterest in sport, the values and salaries of professionalplayers continue to increase exponentially, and fiercecompetition within individual sports makes the process ofnegotiating player contracts critically important. Theinclusion in contemporary times of what are known as‘buyout clauses’ in professional sporting contracts raisesquestions of both legality and integrity, both of which thisarticle will explore in the context of Association Football(Soccer). Such clauses permit a player or another club topay a stipulated sum in the contract and effectively ter-minate the agreement, irrespective of its stipulated dura-tion. From a legal perspective, buyout clauses canpotentially be classified as liquidated damages clauses orpenalties – which may render them unenforceable – furthermuddying the regulatory framework in which such clausesoperate in a sporting context. More broadly, buyout clauseschallenge the very integrity of sport and the rationaleunderpinning sporting player contracts in the way theyfoster player disloyalty, promote competition monopoly,undermine the purpose of longer-term player contracts andover-commercialise sport. This article will argue thatbuyout clauses not only sit uncomfortably with the law ofcontract and the rules of football but challenge the veryintegrity of the sport itse

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• uy-out clauses in professional football player contracts:questions of legality and integrit