THE ECONOMIC RIGHTS OF PROFESSIONAL SOCCER ATHLETES

Brazil is considered a world reference in the practice of soccer, resulting in a great appreciation of the clubs and athletes that play the sport. Management and professionalism are highlights in the sports environment, as a result of high investments. Soccer followed the Brazilian historical evolution, having more autonomy over the years. Thus, the objective of the study is to examine the concept of economic rights in special sports contracts and to verify the hypotheses in which this topic has effects in the legal field with the compensatory and indemnity clause. The research has explanatory and exploratory character. The legal framework involving clubs and athletes is important because economic rights are considered a financial asset, since transfers involving soccer players generate revenues that ensure the livelihood of clubs throughout the season. The result obtained in this research is that the amendment promoted by Law No. 12,395/11 ended with a doctrinal and jurisprudential divergence regarding the understanding of the old wording of article 28 of the Pele Law and if the application of the sporting penal clause was unilateral or bilateral, that is, it may be due to both the club and the athlete. Thus, the new legal text institutionalized the economic rights of the professional soccer athlete to the club with whom he has an active employment relationship and, at the same time, protects the professional athlete by ensuring, through administrative and constitutional mechanisms, the principle of human dignity in contractual relationship with soccer clubs.