Competition Authority clears football clubs but warns against anti-competitive deals
The Competition Authority has decided not to initiate misdemeanor proceedings over alleged anti-competitive practices involving Estonian FA (EJL) chief Aivar Pohlak.
At the same time, the authority has advised clubs to end restrictive contracts for coaches and players.
The decision followed a dispute that arose when a player for Meistrilliga side FC Flora wanted a transfer to Nõmme United. This dispute brought attention to possible anti-competitive agreements within Estonian football.
The Competition Authority (Konkurentsiamet) announced that it would not be initiating misdemeanor proceedings against the NGO Jalgpallikool, explaining that an attempt to enter into such an agreement is not punishable under misdemeanor law.
Legal entities providing football training services are considered undertakings within the understanding of the Competition Act. As a result, football clubs are subject to competition law rules, including the prohibition on entering into anti-competitive agreements.
The Competition Authority stressed that employees and footballers should have the right to choose their workplace according to their own preferences and opportunities.
Agreements prohibiting the poaching and recruitment of employees and players bring long-term negative effects on working and salary conditions, as well as on the entire market, and are therefore strictly prohibited by law.
To reinforce this, the Competition Authority noted that it may impose a fine of up to ten percent of a company's or association of companies' global turnover for violating the ban on anti-competitive agreements, concerted practices, and decisions by associations of undertakings.
Following its findings, the Competition Authority addressed all market participants with a recommendation to terminate any cooperation and contracts between clubs which include restrictions and/or prohibitions on the poaching and recruitment of coaches and footballers, and to avoid concluding such agreements in the future.
The case originated earlier this year, when a criminal investigation led the authority to examine an offer made by Aivar Pohlak, representative of MTÜ Jalgpallikool, to another NGO, Mart Poomi Jalgpallikool, set up by former English Premier League and national team goalkeeper Mart Poom.
This offer, according to the investigation, was effectively a proposal to enter into an anti-competitive agreement.
On June 2 this year, ERR reported that the Competition Authority was handling a criminal case investigating a possible anti-competitive agreement between Estonian football clubs. According to an employee of the Nõmme United Football Club, such a contract was offered to them on behalf of FC Flora by Estonian Football Association president Aivar Pohlak.
Later developments affected the investigation's course. Following an amendment to the Penal Code which entered into force on July 6 this year, the prosecutor's office ordered the criminal case terminated and forwarded the materials to the Competition Authority for a decision on whether to initiate misdemeanor or competition supervision proceedings.
During the inquiry, it emerged that a proposal to sign a document titled "Jalgpalliklubi FC Flora ja Jalgpalliklubi Nõmme United vaheline hea tava kokkulepe" ("Code of best practice between FC Flora and Nõmme United") was made by Pohlak to Nõmme United during an online meeting held on August 8 last year, Madis Metsmägi, head of youth development at the Mart Poom football school, said in the summer.
Poom is president of Nõmme United, a team which was relegated to the second-tier Esiliiga but which has won promotion back to the Meistriliiga for 2026.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Urmet Kook
