FIFA Player Transfer Rules Broke Law, Says Top EU Court

(Bloomberg) — FIFA transfer rules that thwarted a football player who fell out with his Russian club and tried to re-sign for a Belgian team are illegal, the European Union’s top court ruled in a decision that threatens to upend part of the sport’s regulations. 

Ex-French international Lassana Diarra claimed that a deal with Sporting du Pays de Charleroi fell through because of the rules, suing FIFA and the Belgian football association before a local court for damages and loss of earnings of €6 million ($6.6 million).

The French star argued that the search for a new club proved to be difficult because, under the FIFA rules, any new club would be held liable along with Diarra to pay any compensation due to Lokomotiv Moscow.

“Those rules hinder the free movement of players and competition between clubs,” the EU court in Luxembourg said its decision on Friday. 

It was Belgium that also provided the backdrop for a case more than a quarter of a century ago that first liberalized the European football transfer market. A Belgian player Jean-Marc Bosman took his case to the ECJ, which ruled in 1995 that pro footballers could move freely to another club at the end of their contract.

In Diarra’s case, he successfully argued that the rules hindered him from transferring to Charleroi after his contract was cut short by Lokomotiv Moscow. The Russian team tore up Diarra’s deal after he refused to turn up for training following a salary dispute.

FIFA regulations stipulate that Charleroi would have been liable to pay the Moscow-based outfit compensation for the transfer. Failure to do so resulted in football’s global governing body refusing to sanction the move, subsequently ordering Diarra to pay €10 million for breaching his Lokomotiv contract  — a decision eventually backed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

After finding his way to the French Ligue 1’s Olympique de Marseille in 2015 and a brief stint in Abu Dhabi, the former Real Madrid and Chelsea midfielder ended his career in 2019 with his home city club of Paris Saint-Germain.

“It is important to clarify that today’s decision does not change the core principles of the transfer system at all,” Emilio Garcia, FIFA’s chief legal and compliance officer said in a statement. 

“FIFA has been continuously improving that system for many years – not for its own benefit, but for the benefit of players, clubs, leagues and member associations,” he said. 

(Updates with FIFA executive’s response in last two paragraphs)

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