FGame over for the Fifa transfer system! The chief arbiter, in this case, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), has delivered a judgment which risks shaking the bodies of world football. The Luxembourg judges torpedoed the transfer system put in place by the International Football Federation in the name of “free movement of workers”, a fundamental principle of the European Union. The economic model of world football, several decades old, will have to be reformed.
It all began, almost ten years ago, with a dispute between Lassana Diarra, a former French international, and the all-powerful International Association Football Federation (FIFA). The player, who played for Lokomotiv Moscow, wanted to terminate his contract in 2014 following a drastic reduction in his salary. The Russian club, deeming this termination unfair, then claimed a whopping 20 million euros for the damage suffered. Then begins a legal-sporting imbroglio which will lead to referral to the Fifa Dispute Resolution Chamber. It decides to reduce the amount of compensation to 10.5 million euros. A decision which, far from putting out the fire, only fanned the embers of a conflict set to set a precedent.
Lassana Diarra’s sliding tackle that makes Fifa tremble
Lassana Diarra, without a contract, was then approached by Sporting de Charleroi, an elite Belgian club. But faced with the legal and financial risks linked to Fifa’s regulations on the status and transfer of players (RSTJ), the Belgian club finally withdrew. In fact, Sporting de Charleroi should have, under this regulation, assumed joint and several liability in the payment of compensation to the Moscow club. Lassana Diarra, feeling wronged in his freedom of movement as a worker within the European Union, then decided to bring the case before the Belgian courts.
After a long legal journey, the case ended up landing on the desk of the judges of the CJEU. And the least we can say is that their verdict is as scathing as a tackle to the throat of Roy Keane, the rough former Irish midfielder of Manchester United. The Court in fact considered that Fifa’s rules constituted an obstacle to the free movement of workers, guaranteed by Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
The CJEU dribbles the FIFA regulations
In its judgment, the CJEU dissected the FIFA regulations with precision, highlighting three particularly problematic points. First, the Court pinpointed the rule of several and joint liability. A clause deemed abusive according to the judges, because it places a financial sword of Damocles on the shoulders of clubs potentially interested in a player, thus dissuading them from recruiting him.
Secondly, the CJEU criticized the sporting sanctions imposed on the new club. Not content with having to put their hands in their wallets, the “offending” club is prohibited from recruiting for two transfer periods. A sanction that the judges considered disproportionate, comparable to a sports quarantine capable of seriously harming the competitiveness of a team.
The transfer system has been seriously shaken
Third, it was the mechanism for blocking the international transfer certificate which was the subject of the Court’s wrath. In the event of a dispute, this precious key allowing a player to be registered with his new federation is held hostage. Direct consequence: the player finds himself unable to participate in competitions with his new club. A situation that the judges likened to a form of forced technical unemployment, depriving the player of the exercise of his profession.
For the Court, this regulatory arsenal constitutes a real obstacle course for players wishing to change scenery, and a legal-financial minefield for clubs tempted by recruitment. A system which, according to the judges, “deprives to a very large extent […] any player finding himself in such a case faces the prospect of being sent firm and unconditional offers of commitment from clubs established in other Member States. In short, the CJEU considers that FIFA, under the guise of protecting contractual stability, has established a regulatory wall hindering the free movement of workers within the European Union.
Thirty years after the Bosman ruling, football is once again in a liberal revolution
In doing so, the Court of Luxembourg is in line with the Bosman judgment of 1995, which had already revolutionized the world of football by prohibiting quotas for foreign players within the European Union and by allowing players at the end contract to leave freely. Nearly thirty years later, the entire structure of transfers is tottering under the blows of European justice.
The ball is now in the court of Fifa, which will have to review its copy. The body based in Zurich certainly has room for maneuver, the Court having left the door open to rules which would be “necessary” and “proportionate” to ensure the regularity of competitions. But it is indeed the entire transfer system that is called into question.
For gamers, a new era of freedom is dawning. Freed from the shackles of transfer compensation and threats of sanctions, they could see their mobility facilitated within the European Union. A prospect which will not fail to make the less fortunate clubs cringe, who fear seeing their best players slip through their legs to score on other lawns, where the grass is greener.
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