Procedural Rules Governing the Football Tribunal - January 2027 edition
The January 2027 edition of the Procedural Rules Governing the FIFA Football Tribunal, approved on 10 June 2026 and in force from 1 January 2027; in Article 3 it provides that the Tribunal is to apply the FIFA regulations primarily and Swiss law additionally.
| Approved | 10 June 2026 — Bureau of the FIFA Council |
| In force from | 1 January 2027 |
| Structure | 35 articles + one annexe, in four parts |
| Status | In force from the start of 2027; until then the January 2026 edition governs |
What are the Procedural Rules Governing the Football Tribunal?
The Football Tribunal is FIFA's quasi-judicial body, composed of three chambers: the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) for contractual disputes and training compensation cases, the Players' Status Chamber (PSC) for regulatory cases such as the international transfer of players under 18 and changes of association, and the Agents Chamber (AC) for disputes concerning football agents. The present Procedural Rules determine the rules of procedure before all three chambers: from how a claim is lodged and the applicable time limits to evidence, the language of proceedings and the notification of decisions.
About the January 2027 editionChanges from January 2026
This document is the seventh edition of the Procedural Rules Governing the Football Tribunal since the Tribunal was established (previous editions: October 2021, June 2022, October 2022, March 2023, January 2025 and January 2026).
The present edition was approved by the Bureau of the FIFA Council on 10 June 2026 and, pursuant to its Article 35, comes into force on 1 January 2027, replacing the January 2026 edition (approved by the FIFA Council on 17 December 2025). The overall structure of the document — 35 articles and one annexe — has been retained.
Transitional rule: contrary to the common assumption that new procedural rules govern only new claims, Article 32(1) of this edition specifies that proceedings initiated before its entry into force are also subject to these Rules, and decisions on the details of their application to pending cases rest with the FIFA general secretariat (Article 32(2)).
The most significant substantive change from the January 2026 edition — Article 3
The title of this article has changed from "Applicable law" to "Applicable rules and regulations" and its text has been rewritten in full:
- 2026 textThe chambers of the Tribunal apply the FIFA Statutes and regulations "whilst taking into account all relevant arrangements, laws and/or collective bargaining agreements that exist at national level".
- 2027 text"The Football Tribunal will primarily apply the FIFA regulations and, additionally, Swiss law."
The express reference to national laws and collective bargaining agreements has thus been removed from Article 3 and replaced by Swiss law as the subsidiary law — a point of direct significance, when drafting submissions, for parties who build their case on domestic rules (including national association regulations or contracts governed by national law).
Among the formal changes: the title of Article 35 has changed from "Entry into force" to "Adoption and entry into force", and the transitional paragraph on the entry into force of the Agents Chamber provisions as of 1 October 2023 — which had become obsolete — has been deleted.
Structure of the document
The document comprises 35 articles and one annexe, arranged in four parts: general provisions (scope, jurisdiction, composition of the chambers, independence and conflicts of interest, confidentiality); general procedural rules (parties, notifications, time limits, submissions and evidence, language of proceedings and publication of decisions); specific proceedings, covering claims before each of the three chambers, including claims for training compensation (Article 28), the international transfer or first registration of a minor player (Article 30) and petitions for a change of association (Article 31); and final provisions, including transitional rules, matters not provided for and force majeure.
Who this document matters to
Players and coaches in a contractual dispute with a foreign club, clubs involved in international transfer cases or claims for training compensation and the solidarity mechanism, FIFA-licensed agents, and sports lawyers must comply with the formal rules of this document before bringing any claim before the Football Tribunal; failure to observe its time limits and formalities can lead to a claim being dismissed on formal grounds.
The full English text of this edition is available via the download button on this page, and the other editions can be viewed in the "Editions of these regulations" box.