Soccer

Court verdict on Fifa’s transfer rules will ‘change football landscape’

World players’ union Fifpro welcomes European Court of Justice ruling in Lassana Diarra case

Lassana Diarra in action for France in a friendly international against Germany at the Stade de France. Photograph: Ian Langsdon/EPA
Lassana Diarra in action for France in a friendly international against Germany at the Stade de France. Photograph: Ian Langsdon/EPA
Fri Oct 04 2024 - 13:43

A court decision on Fifa’s transfer rules will “change the landscape of professional football”, world players’ union Fifpro has said.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has found some of the rules imposed by the global governing body are contrary to EU law in that they restrict freedom of movement and are anticompetitive, following a challenge by former Arsenal, Chelsea and Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra.

Fifa has already played down the significance of the ruling, saying it only puts in question the wording of two paragraphs within two articles of the overall rules governing player registrations and transfers.

However, Fifpro believes the decision will have a profound effect.

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“The European Court of Justice has ruled that a central part of the Fifa transfer system, in place since 2001, constitutes a restriction of competition by object and a violation of the free movement of workers,” the players’ body said in a statement posted on its official X account.

“The ECJ has just handed down a major ruling on the regulation of the labour market in football ... which will change the landscape of professional football.”

French international Diarra sued Fifa for damages in the Belgian courts, citing two of its rules for the collapse of a move to Belgian club Charleroi after the termination of his contract with Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow in 2014.

The first rule, Article 17.2 of Fifa’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP), states a new club will be jointly liable for compensation, alongside the player, to be paid to the old club where the player has terminated contract without just cause.

The second allows the national association of the player’s former club to withhold an international transfer certificate (ITC) where there is a contract dispute.

Fifa sources had questioned the significance of the ITC rule prior to Friday’s judgment, pointing out that in all cases where a club wishing to sign a player involved in a dispute referred the matter to Fifa, registration with the new club was permitted.

The decision had been billed by some in the lead-up to Friday as the most significant since the 1995 Bosman ruling, which effectively gave out-of-contract players complete freedom at the end of their contracts.

Jean-Louis Dupont worked on that case and represented Diarra in this one, and his firm described Friday’s ruling as a “total victory” for Diarra.

The Dupont-Hissel firm statement said the decision would pave the way for a modernisation of governance in the transfer market, “in particular the use of collective bargaining between employees and employers” as are more common in American sports.

The ECJ ruling, which is set to be published in full later on Friday, will now be handed back to the Belgian appeal court which made the referral for a final decision on the specifics in the Diarra case.

A press release from the ECJ issued on Friday morning said: “The rules in question are such as to impede the free movement of professional footballers wishing to develop their activity by going to work for a new club.”

The release went on to say the court found that while some restrictions on movement may be justified to regulate competition between clubs and to ensure contractual stability in playing squads, it felt the rules in question went “beyond what is necessary to pursue that objective”.

Fifa said: “Fifa is satisfied that the legality of key principles of the transfer system have been reconfirmed in today’s ruling.

“The ruling only puts in question two paragraphs of two articles of the Fifa Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, which the national court is now invited to consider.

“Fifa will analyse the decision in co-ordination with other stakeholders before commenting further.”

Maheta Molango, the chief executive of English players’ union the Professional Footballers’ Association, said the ruling could have “far-reaching ramifications” for football.