Paolo Lombardi is the founder and Managing Director of Lombardi Associates, a boutique
sports regulatory firm founded in 2010, which acts for a range of football stakeholder clients
including clubs, players, coaches, intermediaries, associations, leagues and investors.
Paolo graduated from the University of Padova with a degree in Law. He undertook the FIFA
Master (MA) in Management Law and Humanities of Sport in 2002. In 2010 he was named
Honorary Professor of the International Sports Law ISDE Masters, Madrid.
Paolo began his career in the football industry when he joined the FIFA Players’ Status
Department in 2002, becoming Deputy Head in 2006. He was personally active in many
important cases, which impacted significantly on the existing jurisprudence on contractual
stability (Mexes, Mutu, Matuzalem among others) and, as of 2005, was in charge of all
agent-related matters. As well as handling FIFA’s football tribunals proceedings, Paolo also
represented FIFA at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a number of cases.
During his time at FIFA, Paolo was involved in the working groups for the drafting and re-
drafting of various FIFA regulations, including the Statutes, the Regulations on the Status
and Transfer of Players, the Players’ Agents Regulations, the Disciplinary Code and the
Code of Ethics. In addition, Paolo conducted discussions with WADA during the creation of
the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations.
In 2007 he was appointed Head of FIFA Disciplinary and Governance. In this role, he
oversaw all disciplinary and governance matters both in-house and at various FIFA
tournaments such as the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South
Africa.
After leaving FIFA following the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Paolo founded Lombardi Associates.
His work includes advising over one third of clubs in the Italian Serie A, and a number of
clubs across the UK and Europe. Paolo advises clients on transfers, dispute resolution,
breach of contract, training compensation and solidarity mechanism, registration of minors,
eligibility and more. With the increasing impact of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations,
he has also assisted clubs with both UEFA and national licensing issues, including in front
of CAS. Paolo’s activities for clients include consulting and providing expert opinions on
aspects of national and international regulations and regulatory interpretation for investors.
Paolo has been involved in a number of landmark cases, which have shaped the recent
jurisprudence of CAS1. Including his time with FIFA, Paolo has been involved in hundreds
of CAS proceedings.
Paolo lectures on an ad hoc basis for a range of Universities, Masters programmes and
conferences and sits on boards and committees of various institutions. Lombardi Associates
have also staged the very successful Edinburgh Sports Conference.
He speaks English, Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
