doThis is an earthquake whose intensity is still difficult to measure. On Friday, October 4, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a ruling declaring “opposites” to Community law certain rules of the International Football Federation (FIFA) that regulate the transfers of players and “nature hinders free movement” of these. Ultimately, this decision could allow professional players to unilaterally opt out of their contract with a club at the end of a season.
The case that led the CJEU to draft this ruling began ten years ago. In 2014, former French international Lassana Diarra finished his first season at Lokomotiv Moscow. Disappointed by his performance, the club told him that they wanted to reduce his salary. The defensive midfielder, who had signed for four years, refuses and expresses his desire to leave the Russian team. Sporting Charleroi (Belgium) then showed their interest in hiring Diarra. The Russian club then decided to terminate the player’s contract considering that he had stopped fulfilling it without “just cause”.
Relying on FIFA regulations, Lokomotiv Moscow also demands compensation of 20 million euros from Lassana Diarra (later reduced to 10.5 million) for the damages suffered. Under FIFA rules, a club that signs a player who has breached his contract in this way can be ordered to pay these costs jointly and receive sporting sanctions. This threat ended up discouraging Sporting de Charleroi from signing Lassana Diarra, who, after this episode, would remain without a club for a season before signing for Olympique de Marseille in 2015.
“Unpredictable financial risks”
With the support of players’ unions – particularly the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) and the International Federation of Professional Footballers’ Associations (FifPro) – Diarra took legal action in Belgium. It is in this context that the Mons Court of Appeal asked the CJEU for clarifications on the free movement of workers and competition law.
Therefore, on Friday, October 4, the Court issued a ruling whose interpretation by the Court of Appeal of Mons will, in all probability, be favorable to the footballer. Considering that the terms imposed by FIFA “poses to these players and the clubs that wish to sign them significant legal risks, unpredictable and potentially very high financial risks, as well as significant sporting risks that, together, can hinder the international transfer of players”The Court reaffirmed the possibility for professional footballers to unilaterally terminate their contract at the end of a season. And this in exchange for compensation paid to his employer, which the Court considers should be set proportionally and without taking into account the transfer compensation paid by the club to buy the player. However, this is precisely what the FIFA regulations foresee and impose today, according to criteria considered “ imprecise and discretionary » by the Court. Result: no player unilaterally terminates his contract, which, according to the CJEU, is incompatible with EU law and the principle of free competition.
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