José Franciso studied the Master’s Degree in Sports Law offered by Universidad Europea and Real Madrid Graduate School, at the Alcobendas Campus in the academic year 2017/2018.
José Francisco Redondo Garrido is 28 years old and currently works in the legal department for Intersoccer Consultancy, the consultancy branch of Intersoccer Group, a company dedicated to the football industry, mainly in the areas of organising football training courses, player representation and legal advice for federations, football clubs, intermediaries and footballers. He studied the Master’s Degree in Sports Law at Real Madrid Graduate School–Universidad Europea.
He is also an associate in the Sports Law Department of the law firm SPYN Advisors and has had the opportunity to give several seminars within the Real Federación de Fútbol de Madrid (Royal Madrid Football Federation). Furthermore, he was recently awarded the 2019 ‘Secciones’ Award, granted by the Madrid Bar Association, in the Sports Law category.
“If I had to highlight something specific about my job, I’d mention two things:
Firstly, providing legal advice to all categories of clubs, as it means I get to be in contact with the day-to-day life of both professional and semi-professional clubs while working on one of the things I am most passionate about, namely foreign minors’ applications to FIFA for licences. It’s really rewarding when, after a long process, you get a positive decision and help a young footballer to take part in federation competitions with his fellow teammates, which until then wasn’t possible for him.
Secondly, another part of my role that I really enjoy is when I have the chance to work on a player transfer from one club to another, whether I’m advising one of the clubs, the player or his representative. It’s exciting to see from the inside of the negotiation process and work towards reaching a final agreement. The best anecdotes of my job stem from this area, especially when the negotiation is particularly important and something that you are working on directly is tracked closely. It’s especially rewarding when the transfer is completed and you realise that you have taken part in a transaction that years ago you would have followed as just another fan”, he tells us.
José Francisco plans to share his experiences and professional expertise with people interested in specialising in Sports Law as a speaker for the different programmes currently on offer. On an academic level, soon he would like to enrol in a PhD programme to fulfil his dream of becoming a Doctor in Law in the area of Sports Law. He admits that, without a doubt, his best memory from his time at Universidad Europea “was graduating on the pitch at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium”.
His advice to those who have just finished their studies and are now going out into the working world? “The working world is highly selective and the beginning isn’t always straightforward, which means they’ll have to better themselves every day. I think they should understand that every job they do will be an investment in themselves and that the experiences they’ll have in their career will make them better professionals every day. This means working hard to grow professionally will always be worthwhile and will pay off in the end, regardless of what their job is and the industry they work in. I would also recommend that they fight to find a job that they are really passionate about, and to keep educating themselves even if they must balance this with their working life.”