Court declares FIFA’s transfer fees illegal as Diarra win case against football governing body
FIFA’s transfer rules have been declared illegal by Europe’s highest court.
In a landmark ruling that could see the entire transfer system ripped up, the European Court of Justice backed former Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal and Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra in his case against Fifa.
Diarra, 39, sued the world body after it upheld a £16m fine imposed on him by former club Lokomotiv Moscow in 2014 after he was sacked for allegedly boycotting training over a pay dispute.
The massive fine was halved to £8m after the player appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
But the case has since gone all the way to the Luxembourg-based ECJ, Europe’s highest court.
Diarra’s lawyer, Jean Louis Dupont - the man responsible for the “Bosman” ruling in the 1990s that transformed the face of European football - argued that Fifa had broken European labour laws by refusing to issue the International Transfer Certificate which would have allowed him to join another club and exercise his rights as a professional.
And in an eagerly-awaited ruling the ECJ has now declared the current regulations are in breach of EU Law on the free movement of people.
The Court ruled: “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.
“Those rules impose considerable legal risks, unforeseeable and potentially very high financial risks as well as major sporting risks on those players and clubs wishing to employ them which, taken together, are such as to impede international transfers of those players.”
Potential ramifications could be huge depending on the full judgement, which will be published later on Friday.
If the Court has made a strong ruling, it could effectively declare the entire current system is in breach of EU Law.
That would see Fifa losing its current authority over the transfer system and allow players the right to break their contracts and change clubs with impunity.
