-

IStock / City Presse

When a coach is hired by a club or when the latter recruits players in order to strengthen its ranks, it is never for a very long period.

These enthusiasts are always hired for a number - defined in advance - of sports seasons thanks to the sports CDD, which since 2015 replaced the CDD customary in this sector of activity apart.

A one to five year contract

If this fixed-term employment contract obeys the usual regulations of fixed-term contracts for everything concerning the formalism of the agreement, cases of termination or even remuneration, it includes certain specificities aimed at taking into account the sports agenda.

The hiring can in fact be concluded for a period of twelve months to five years renewable, except exceptions.

Likewise, there is no trial period or termination benefits.

Depending on their results within the club or association, the pros are renewed in their function or on the contrary dismissed.

This is for example what happened to Raymond Domenech, hired for two years as coach of the French football team, then extended for four years, before leaving the door at the end of his contract in 2010. , after a disastrous World Cup in South Africa.

Same scenario for Unai Emery, who had joined PSG for two years but was fired in 2018 after the elimination of his team in the knockout stages of the Champions League two editions in a row.

Stormy ruptures

As we have said, the sports CDD obeys the basic rules in terms of termination of contract.

Therefore, cases of termination before the scheduled term are very limited by law.

First scenario: the two parties decide by mutual agreement to stop there by means of an internal negotiation involving, in practice, money.

Another case, much rarer: the employee is entitled to terminate his contract if he can justify hiring on a permanent contract elsewhere.

This is what the Italian physical trainer Antonio Pintus did in particular, who, only a month after his arrival at Olympique Lyonnais in 2016, broke his three-year contract to prefer a CDI at Real Madrid.

As for the club and the sports association, it can decide to dismiss a player or a coach in the event of force majeure or incapacity noted by the occupational physician.

But it is generally serious misconduct that is invoked to dismiss a pro.

An all-purpose motif which gives rise to numerous disputes before the industrial tribunal.

Guy Novès, the former coach of the French rugby team, has also obtained a little over a million euros in damages for his unfair dismissal for serious misconduct in 2017 by the French Rugby Federation. .

Economy

Employment: What are the rules governing redundancy?

Economy

Employment: How to combine work and retirement?

  • Coach

  • Cdd

  • Sport

  • Employment

  • Contract

  • Legislation