Employee Status of Professional Soccer Players Based on the Labor Laws of China and Japan

In 2016, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other departments of China jointly released the document of Suggestions on Strengthening and Improving Labor Security Management of Professional Soccer Clubs, which confirms the application of Labor Law to professional soccer players. However, there are no detailed stipulations on the application of Labor Law entirely or selectively, nor on the consistency of applicable scope between individual labor law and collective labor law.Through the analysis of Japan's labor laws and theories, it is held that it would be necessary to delimit the scope of application of professional soccer players in individual labor law and collective labor law respectively while recognizing professional soccer players as laborers in China.In addition, income thresholds should be set thus those whose income does not exceed the threshold could be applicable or partially applicable to individual labour law.On the other hand, however, the others could negotiate with employers through trade unions based on collective labor law.