On 30 April 2026, the Court of Justice of the EU (the “Court”) delivered its judgment in Case C‑133/24 CD Tondela and Others (“Tondela”). The case arose from a preliminary ruling request submitted by a Portuguese court concerning a no-poach agreement entered into by Portuguese professional football clubs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the first opportunity for the Court to examine a no-poach agreement in the sports industry in depth, and it comes at a time when labour-market restrictions feature high on EU competition authorities’ enforcement agenda (please see here for our coverage of key developments in this area). The judgment integrates the growing body of sports judgments, after Superleague, Royal Antwerp, ISU and FIFA, testing how EU competition law should factor in the specific features of sport.

The Court’s position is primarily driven by its assessment of the agreement’s context. The Court, in line with the Opinion of Advocate General (“AG”) Emiliou, confirms that no-poach agreements may amount to serious violations of Article 101 TFEU – that is, restrictions “by object”. But it recognises that the sports industry exhibits specificities that, in certain circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic here, may place no-poach agreements outside the scope of Article 101 TFEU altogether, or at least require a detailed analysis of their effects.