Kolpak ruling

Common card · No. 431060

The Kolpak ruling is a European Court of Justice ruling handed down on 8 May 2003 in favour of Maroš Kolpak, a Slovak handball player. It held that certain nationals of countries with Association Agreements containing non-discrimination provisions (such as the EU–Slovakia Europe Agreement) could not be discriminated against in employment once they were lawfully employed in an EU member state. It did not grant them the same general freedom of movement as EU citizens. Thus nationality-based quotas applied to lawfully employed players covered by the relevant Association Agreements were found to be incompatible with EU law. The judgment in Germany had significant implications for professional sports in Europe, which have had a wide-ranging effect, especially in regard to English county cricket and European professional rugby. Kolpak player, or Kolpak, was a term used in the United Kingdom for people from overseas playing in the domestic leagues in cricket and both rugby codes, who were subject...

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