Adnkronos Rome, June 13 – (Adnkronos) – The conference entitled “The reform of sports law: innovations and prospects”, organized by professors Pasquale Passalacqua and Antonio Leonardo Fraioli, professors of Labor Law at the Department of Law at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, is taking place this morning. The event is taking place in the Hall of Honor of the Coni (Piazza Lauro De Bosis, 15) and includes institutional greetings from the rector of Rome Tor Vergata, Nathan Levialdi Ghiron, the director of the University’s Department of Law, Venerando Marano, and the president of the Coni Giovanni Malagò.
In Europe – comments Fraioli – there are over 1,5 million people working in the world of sport and the trend is constantly growing (+11% from 2021 to 2023). In Italy there are approximately 400.000 sports workers, with an increase in female employment and with a revenue of almost 100 billion euros per year. The number of members of federations and sports bodies now reaches 15 million people (including athletes, practitioners, managers, technicians, match officials, other figures)”.
The Conference proposes an analysis of the innovations introduced by the Reform of Sports Work (Legislative Decree 36/2021) which introduces a comprehensive review of sports employment relationships, outlining the unitary figure of the "sports worker", including both the professional worker and the amateur, up to dealing with the work performance of the volunteer (so-called "amateur"), which has not been regulated so far.
"The legislator - continues Fraioli - therefore overcomes the traditional distinction between 'professional' and 'amateur' athletes, assimilating them into the category of sports worker, a figure who is characterized by the fact of providing a paid work performance. However, the presumption of subordinate work for the athlete and that of self-employment - in the form of coordinated and continuous collaborations - for sports workers falling within the scope of amateurism is maintained".
In this perspective, the professional sphere is distinguished from the amateur sphere on the basis of the purpose of the sporting activity, lucrative in the first case or, instead, "with prevalent altruistic purpose" for the second. Equal attention in the Conference is reserved to sports justice aimed at resolving particular controversies in the sector, to the so-called sports bond, to sports apprenticeship, to the sporting activity of the volunteer.