The first advocate general of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has concluded that FIFA’s rules on transfers could be contrary to the rules of competition and the free movement of people, in a report made public this week .
If the CJEU, whose decision is expected at the end of the summer after the judicial recess, followed these conclusions in what is called “the Lassana Diarra affair”, a former Real Madrid player in particular, it could profoundly modify the transfer system, as during the Bosman affair in 1995.
This ten-year-old case pits Diarra against one of his former clubs, Lokomotiv Moscow. Hired for three seasons, the Frenchman denounced after a few months a drastic salary reduction without reason before the club terminated his contract, accusing the player of having refused to execute his contract “without just cause”.
Considering itself wronged, the Moscow team demanded compensation of 20 million euros from Diarra, based on Fifa regulations. According to these regulations, if a player terminates his contract unilaterally and without just cause, he must pay compensation which includes his remuneration and benefits until the end of his contract.
Sporting de Charleroi then tried to recruit the player but the transfer fell through, the Belgian club being afraid of having to pay part of this sum as co-debtor.
Diarra, a 34-time French international, finally signed up for Olympique de Marseille in 2015 while appealing to the Mons commercial court in Belgium, supported by the players’ unions Fifpro and UNFP. Believing that Fifa prevented him from exercising his profession as a player in 2014-2015, he is demanding compensation of six million euros.
After several twists and turns, the Belgian justice system, whose jurisdiction FIFA contested, asked a so-called “preliminary” question to the CJEU in 2022: is the regulation of the status and transfer of players compatible with the law of competition and free EU circulation? And can a federation exert pressure by refusing to issue an international transfer certificate? The opinion given by Polish prosecutor Maciej Szpuna in a 46-page report published Tuesday supports the player.
“These provisions (of Fifa) are likely to discourage and dissuade clubs from hiring the player for fear of a financial risk. The sporting sanctions faced by clubs hiring the player can effectively prevent a player from practicing his profession in a club located in another Member State,” wrote the Advocate General.
“Limiting the ability of clubs to recruit players necessarily affects competition between clubs in the market for the acquisition of professional players,” he continues. If the CJEU were to follow this opinion, players could, if they one day find themselves on the sidelines, terminate their contract with a club without fear of being legally stuck afterwards.
Lassana Diarra is notably defended by the Belgian Jean-Louis Dupont, one of the lawyers behind the “Bosman ruling” which put an end to quotas for foreign players in clubs in 1995, thus liberalizing the transfer market. in Europe.