Knowledge

Continuing its strategic focus on the quality and specialisation of its legal services, TELLES has just announced the autonomy of its Sports Law Department.

The TELLES team, which now becomes formally autonomous with the arrival of José Miguel Albuquerque, is the result of a strong know-how acquired in several areas of sports law, including the resolution of all types of international and national disputes before sports dispute resolution bodies and advising sports agents (clubs, players, coaches and agents) on all matters related to transfers, contracts and registration of players and agents.

Francisco Espregueira Mendes, partner at TELLES, points out that "the strong growth of TELLES in the area of sports law justifies its autonomy, as our aim is to provide a more specialised service to our clients and to be closer to them".

For José Miguel Albuquerque, lawyer specialising in sports law, "after several years of advising players and agents before joining Sporting Clube de Portugal, and after four years of working as the club's lawyer in professional and training football, as well as in its other sporting disciplines, I joined TELLES with great enthusiasm to offer our clients a specialised service in an area in which TELLES is betting increasingly and effectively".

José Miguel Albuquerque has specialised in sports law. The most recent lawyer to join TELLES, he has worked as a senior lawyer at Sporting Clube de Portugal for the last four years and has a remarkable track record in the sports sector, having followed arbitration proceedings before the TAD and TAS and disciplinary proceedings before the Portuguese Football Federation and FIFA, as well as all the processes of recruitment, renewal and permanent or temporary transfer of players. His extensive sports experience also includes advising on financial transactions and operations in corporate finance, banking, corporate governance and capital markets, as well as drafting and negotiating sponsorship and partnership agreements that significantly impact Sporting Clube de Portugal's activities.

He has completed the curricular part of the Scientific Master's Degree in Legal-Labour and Corporate Sciences and holds three postgraduate degrees (Sports Law and Finances from the Lisbon University Law School; Commercial and Public Companies Law from the Catholic University Law School; "El Tribunal Arbitral del Deporte de Lausana (TAS) - Introducción Jurídica a su Funcionamiento" from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos - Instituto de Derecho Público) and has recently completed the first edition of the FIFA Executive Programme in Football Agency.

João Pinho de Almeida, Consultant at TELLES, will be in charge of the Sports Law Team, composed of José Miguel Albuquerque, Senior Associate specialised in Sports Law, Sara Brito Cardoso, Associate specialised in Tax Law and Sara Mesquita, Associate specialised in Labour and Social Security. The team is multidisciplinary and its autonomy is also a formal recognition of the solid and in-depth experience it has acquired over the years in advising athletes, agents, sports companies, clubs, associations and federations of different sports disciplines.

TELLES is a law firm with a national and international reputation based on the quality and specialisation of the legal services provided by its 130 lawyers.