1 Freedom of Movement for the GCC Players Michele Colucci Doha, 29 April 2007

2 THE GCC: Co-operation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Regional organization ( 25 May 1981) Six Member States: –Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. BahrainKuwaitOmanQatarSaudi ArabiaUnited Arab EmiratesBahrainKuwaitOmanQatarSaudi ArabiaUnited Arab Emirates Population: Creed of Islam One Nation

3 The Charter (1981) Objectives (art. 4): –effect coordination, –integration and –inter-connection among the Member States in all fields One final goal: UNITY

4 Co-operation Legal co-operation: –Islamic Sharia as only source for legislations and jurisprudence in Member States Social co-operation: –Co-ordination of social care, social security, social aid and social development Co-operation in the field of Youth, sports, and scouts: –1983 framework for youth and sport joint work

5 The Economic Agreement (31 december 2001) Art. 3: GCC natural and legal citizens shall be accorded, in any Member State, the same treatment accorded to its own citizens, without differentiation or discrimination, in all economic activities, especially the following: –Movement and residence –Work in private and government jobs –Pension and social security –… Member States shall agree to complete implementation rules sufficient to carry this put and bring into being the Gulf Common Market.

6 The Economic Agreement Art. 5:Development of Human Resources: –Member States shall undertake the policies necessary to develop and unify their labor rules and legislation, eliminate all obstacles restricting intra-GCC movement of national labor force.

7 A comparison with the European Union 27 Member States: –27 different cultures –27 different legal systems 23 Official Languages ( people) One Treaty: more economic connotations than social ones Freedom of Movement of Workers – Citizens The Bosman case: FIFA- UEFA and the EU Legal Order

8 CONCLUSIONS A GCC PLAYER is... a GCC CITIZEN, a GCC WORKER. A GCC PLAYER IS ELIGIBLE TO PLAY AS LOCAL PLAYER FOR ANY FOOTBALL CLUB OF THE SIX GCC STATES