The Messi Clause" has emerged, bringing constraints to the chaotic phenomenon of commercial soccer stars "breaching contracts.

Perhaps many people did not expect that the Chinese Football Association has done something that all football fans would approve of.

On the afternoon of April 23, the Chinese Football Association revised the "Regulations on the Filing and Supervision of International Football Matches of the Chinese Football Association" (referred to as the "Regulations"). The most attention-grabbing new provision is that "sports event organizers should improve the ticketing terms, inform the public of the main players' appearance terms and the handling plan once breached before starting ticket sales, and clearly specify the relevant plan in the ticketing plan (ticketing terms)."

2023年的阿根廷中国行确实成为了中国足球商业赛的一个高峰，梅西率领阿根廷国家队前来参赛无疑吸引了大量球迷的关注。这样的盛况也凸显了中国球迷对顶级球星和国际赛事的渴望。

不过，随着足球商业赛在中国的兴起，也出现了一些问题和争议，例如球星缺席、比赛质量参差不齐等。中国足协出台《规程》的背后，除了对足球商业赛进行规范外，也反映了对行业乱象的关注和整顿。

对于中国足球来说，吸引国际顶级球星和举办高水平赛事可以促进本土足球的发展，提升国内球员的水平和竞争力，同时也可以为广大球迷带来更多精彩的赛事体验。但是，需要确保赛事的质量和规范，以及平衡商业利益与体育精神之间的关系。

On the other hand, it is the operating strategy of the organizers, especially relying on the sale of expensive tickets, that has directly driven the ticket pricing of commercial football matches in China into a new stage. The high ticket price has become the biggest label of this football commercial match.

Although this commercial match was criticized by the public for its high ticket prices, Messi's outstanding performance in the game ultimately made the high ticket prices just a passing cloud, without causing too much controversy afterwards. Unlike the "harvesting fans" before the match, "value for money" was the evaluation of many fans after watching the game.

After the successful case of the 2023 Argentina-China tour, many brokerage companies or sports companies have chosen to follow suit, leading to subsequent chaos. However, "only the first one can eat this crab for the time being."

Whether it was the cancellation of the China tour plan by the Miami International in November 2023, or the victory friendly match led by C Ronaldo in Riyadh in January 2024, as well as the Miami International friendly match led by Messi in February, the subsequent commercial football matches all ended in "failure".

Especially the latter two, which caused a huge public opinion storm, but these two need to be treated differently, because of the stark difference in the attitude of the organizers and the stars towards the fans. The absence of C Ronaldo was due to injury, which had been reported by foreign media before the match. Unfortunately, C Ronaldo could not recover in time and take the risk to play, resulting in missing two friendly matches. The organizers also "cut losses in time" before the match, stating that they would fully refund the tickets and cover the hotel and airfare for out-of-town fans. In early April, some fans had already received refunds for their hotel and airfare. Judging from the subsequent handling and operation, the organizers Changxin Media and Yaoqi Sports are still reasonable.

As for the organizer Tatler Asia, which invited the Miami International to Hong Kong, they were not so lucky. After the incident, Tatler Asia simply held a press conference to "brush over the matter", expressing regret and voluntarily withdrawing the funding subsidy application. Finally, under pressure from the Hong Kong SAR government, Tatler Asia agreed to refund 50% of the ticket price.

After several turbulent events, it has become a consensus in the sports industry to regulate the development of commercial football matches and safeguard the interests of ticket-buying fans. By drawing on past experiences and lessons, the Chinese Football Association has made efforts in the regulatory aspect.

Publicizing the appearance clause, it will be difficult for football stars to "default" when coming to China.

Upon the release of this "regulation," many fans jokingly referred to it as the "Messi clause," mainly because Messi was absent from a match during his visit to Hong Kong, citing "injury" as the reason. From the final outcome of this incident, almost everyone became a "loser," with controversial aspects involving the Hong Kong government, the organizers, the Miami International, and Messi himself.

Therefore, the content revised by the Chinese Football Association this time is aimed at plugging the "loopholes" that existed before, preventing such incidents from happening again, and safeguarding the interests of ticket-buying fans. There are two points that have received the most attention from the public. One is that "before the event obtains approval from international organizations, the organizers of sports events shall not engage in confirmatory and factual publicity of the event, carry out any promotional activities based on the premise that the event has been approved, or conduct any form of ticket sales and pre-sale work."

This provision undoubtedly points to the Miami International China Tour event in November 2023. On October 15, the event organizer announced the itinerary for the Miami International China Tour, but on November 1, the organizer officially announced that the event could not be held as scheduled due to unforeseen circumstances.

The organizer announced the specific information about the event before obtaining the confirmation documents. From the perspective of the organizers, this also shows their "calculations"—they hope to exert pressure on the local area where the event will be held in order to obtain approval, and also to expedite the event's sponsorship and ticket sales. Unfortunately, contrary to the organizer's expectations, the relevant approval did not come as scheduled. Therefore, after the Chinese Football Association supplemented this regulation, the disorder of organizers prematurely announcing commercial football matches and consuming the enthusiasm of fans may be eliminated in the future.

The second point of the "Regulations," which is also the most important, is that "sports event organizers should improve ticketing terms, inform the public of the main star's appearance terms and the handling plan in case of breach before starting ticket sales, and clearly state the relevant plan in the ticketing terms."

It is not a trade secret that well-known football stars need to sign contracts before participating in commercial matches. The contract specifies the specific terms for the appearance of well-known football stars. However, due to the restrictions of trade secrets, the organizers and the stars or teams often do not disclose specific details to the public when signing the appearance contract.

Therefore, when fans purchase tickets, it is like "drawing a blind box." Because fans do not know how much playing time the star they want to see will have, it could be only 10 minutes or the entire game. All of this depends on the contract signed by the organizers and the star, or the mood of the superstar, and these details are not accessible to fans through public channels.

After the intervention of the Chinese Football Association, fans now have the "right to know" when purchasing tickets. From another perspective, this document from the Chinese Football Association requires the organizers to make a written commitment to the appearance time of the star and how to compensate fans if the star fails to meet the appearance time specified in the contract.

To put it simply, if the organizers invite Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi to attend a commercial match in China again, according to the "Regulations," the organizers need to clearly inform the fans of the appearance terms of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi during the ticket sales phase, as well as the breach handling plan if they fail to meet the appearance time specified in the contract. Compared to before, the division of responsibility will be more easily identifiable.

Therefore, to a certain extent, the "Regulations" can reduce the chaos in commercial football matches and maximize the protection of the rights and interests of ticket-purchasing fans. Of course, the enforcement and effectiveness of these "Regulations" also need to be practically tested. At least for now, the adjustment and supplementation made by the Chinese Football Association for commercial football matches demonstrate its responsibility and deserve praise.

Enhancing the transparency of commercial football matches and safeguarding the interests of fans

From the perspective of industry development, the controversies caused by Messi and Ronaldo at the beginning of the year have accelerated the standardized development of commercial football matches and forced the Chinese Football Association to make positive changes in its regulations. Making mistakes is not terrible; what's terrible is not correcting them after making mistakes. From several past incidents, it can be seen that the Chinese Football Association has also reflected on the chaos in commercial football matches over the past year and made targeted adjustments.

In my opinion, the introduction of the "Regulations" will effectively promote the standardized development of domestic commercial football matches. Firstly, this will maximize the transparency of commercial football events. According to the regulations, the organizers need to clarify in advance the issues that fans are generally concerned about, such as the appearance terms of the star and how to handle subsequent breaches, to avoid entering into a lengthy responsibility tug-of-war afterwards. Now, during the ticket sales phase, fans can clearly know what content and services are included in the tickets they purchase, without having to "draw a blind box" anymore.

Next, this will also force the organizers to sign more rigorous and detailed commercial contracts with the participating teams, and even hope to promote the improvement of relevant laws and regulations. Due to the existence of the star aura, many teams or players have a very strong position in contract negotiations, and now there are explicit regulations of the Chinese Football Association, which also gives the organizers more leverage and confidence in negotiations with teams or players.

At the same time, the newly revised "Regulations" also put forward higher requirements for the event organizers, which is equivalent to a strict selection of the organizers, making it more difficult for sports companies to simply hold commercial events to make money. Now they have to take a different approach.

The introduction of the "Regulations" undoubtedly poured cold water on the hot commercial competition market, but the author believes that this is not a bad thing. In recent years, the Chinese fans' desire for top clubs or top players has led many sports companies to see an opportunity to make money, but the two incidents at the beginning of the year have shown the industry that risks and returns are closely linked.

Betting all the chips on a single player carries extremely high risks, and any slight mistake will lead to a backlash. So, in the future of commercial football matches, should the organizers continue to bet on Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi, or should they invite top clubs to share the risks? These are two completely different choices facing the organizers.

In any case, as a member of the industry or as a fan, we certainly hope to see a "sincere" commercial match, with reasonable ticket pricing, players showing their professional side, and no off-field disturbances. It is not realistic for commercial events to let the organizers lose money while making a lot of noise. A happy audience, happy players, and profitable organizers are the key to a successful commercial event, and it is also the rule for the healthy development of the commercial event market.

It is foreseeable that with the vigorous development of the sports market, there will definitely be more commercial events held in China in the future. Hopefully, the targeted provisions of the Chinese Football Association can be binding on the organizers and participating teams, accelerating the standardization of commercial events and protecting the vital interests of the fans.