On 16 July 2026 the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down its judgment in Case C-209/23 (RRC Sports). The headline is narrower than the immediate commentary suggests. The Court left the referring court to apply its guidance to most of the contested rules. Two points were expressed more strongly than the rest: the approach rule appears, in any event, to be incompatible with the prohibition on cartels, while the GDPR conclusion on disclosure and publication is unqualified. The latter may have consequences for how agents are diligenced under EU Regulation 2024/1624 from 10 July 2029.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has handed down a judgment that matters well beyond German football.

In Case C-428/23, ROGON and Others, the Court considered whether the German Football Association’s rules on player agents may fall within an exception to the EU prohibition on cartels. The press release headline is deliberately careful. The DFB rules may fall within the exception. The Court has not finally decided that the rules are lawful. That question now goes back to the German Federal Court of Justice.

On 9 June 2026, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority held its first conference in Brussels. Isabel Lemes, Co-founder and Director of Lagom Sports Compliance, attended. What follows are the five messages from the day that matter most for professional football clubs and agents.

Proportionality is the word smaller clubs are quietly hoping will let them off the hook. It will not. EU Regulation 2024/1624 does build in a genuine, legally grounded principle of proportionate compliance, but most clubs do not know what that principle actually requires of them, do not have the in-house capability to apply it, and are running out of time to find out. This article explains what proportionality really means, what it really demands, and what a right-sized compliance framework looks like in practice.

AMLA published its draft guidelines on ongoing monitoring of business relationships on 3 June 2026. Football clubs and agents are in scope. The consultation closes on 3 September 2026. Final guidelines are expected in Q4 2026. The window to understand what is coming, and to respond, is open now. Here is what the consultation paper actually requires, and why it matters for professional football.

Football club AML compliance is no longer a choice. From 10 July 2029, EU Regulation 2024/1624 -- the EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation -- formally brings professional football clubs and football agents inside the same regulatory perimeter as banks and payment institutions. Customer due diligence, sanctions screening, beneficial ownership analysis, suspicious-activity reporting, and a board-approved governance framework become legal requirements. Most clubs have none of this in place. The window to build it properly is now, not 2028.

This morning, the Financial Conduct Authority -- the UK's statutory regulator of financial services firms and markets -- wrote to every Premier League club and the wider professional football community warning that sponsorship deals with unauthorised financial firms expose clubs to legal liability, money laundering risk and serious reputational damage. The letter names no specific clubs. The press coverage that followed named several. Every club in the English pyramid needs to read this carefully.