Representatives of players and clubs alike are calling for the development of a collective agreement in Football to regulate the transfer market, currently organized by FIFA but disrupted this Friday by a decision by the European justice system with the Lassana ruling. Diarra.
“We need a collective agreement”explains to theAFP the lawyer of the global union Fifpro, Pieter Paepe. “The rules must be negotiated between players and clubs, it is not up to Fifa, a private law entity, to unilaterally regulate this employment relationship”he argues.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in a judgment delivered this Friday morning that certain rules of the FIFA governing transfers between clubs were “opposites” to European Union law and “likely to hinder free movement” professional footballers.
“Given that this judgment will have a major impact on the future of the football labor market, the inclusion of representatives of leagues and players’ unions in international football governance now becomes legally essential”estimates European Leagues, the association of European championships, in a press release.
“Players understand the need for restrictions on the free movement of workers” in the interest of football competitions, continues Me Pieter Paepe, “but they must be negotiated by the players”.
For the Belgian lawyer, also lawyer for the French union UNFP, “FIFA imposes restrictions not to protect players, but to establish a system of transfers between clubs”.
“Around a table”
The world football body defends itself and ensures that it “continuously improving this system for many years – not for its own benefit, but for the benefit of players, clubs, leagues and member associations (…) while preserving the integrity of the competitions”specifies its legal director, Emilio Garcia.
But for Emmanuel Durand, sports law partner at DWF, “the CJEU says that it was not the role of FIFA to regulate the labor market in football, FIFA is the organizer of the competitions”.
“FIFA is losing control, it had granted itself somewhat absolute powers”he adds, without thinking, however, that the entire transfer system will be brought down.
“If we follow the Court’s reasoning, the Lassana Diarra ruling is explosive, but if we go further, I think that the market will be regulated through a collective agreement, and that this is not not the end of the transfer system”he adds.
“We will sit around a table, and as is often the case in social law to organize a branch of activity, a specific collective agreement will be signed”advance-t-il.
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