The Italian antitrust institution has opened an investigation against the Italian Volleyball Federation (FIPAV) for its contracts and abuse of a dominant position.
The Antitrust Authority (AGCM in the acronym), an independent Italian administrative authority that has the function of protecting competition and the market, has launched an investigation into the governing body of the country’s volleyball, Gian Luca Pasini informed in his blog.
The duration, considered excessive, of sporting restrictions for volleyball players registered in FIPAV is in the sights of the Antitrust. According to the authority, in fact, such restrictions, even more so if they are of long duration, “impose improper burdens on players and limit competition between clubs as they are capable of hindering the transfers of young players from one federation or club to another (federation or club), thus shaping the market“.
Antitrust stressed the excessive and unjustified duration of sporting restrictions, applied among other things to underage players, leads “not only to a direct worsening of the situation of athletes and their families but also to a general reduction in the incentive to compete for sports clubs, with further negative effects on athletes.“
The authority noted that there’s therefore a specific antitrust interest in that sporting restrictions are abolished or, in any case, that they don’t last too long in order to allow the development of correct competition between the various clubs or federations at which young athletes are trained and raised.
