The authors of the initiative intend to seek compensation for footballers who have suffered losses due to FIFA transfer rules in force since 2002. The lawsuit could affect 100,000 professional footballers who signed contracts with European clubs, and the amount of compensation could run into billions of euros.
The lawsuit is directed against FIFA and five European soccer associations, but the organization suggested that the number of defendants may be added to 31 more organizations, as the rules of transfer affected most of the national European leagues.
The intention to sue FIFA intensified after the EU Court of Justice ruled in October 2024 that some of the organization’s rules governing the transfer of players from club to club were contrary to the law. In particular, FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players state that a footballer who terminates his contract early “without just cause” must pay compensation to the club and, in the case of a transfer to a new club, must make a joint and several payment. In the opinion of many soccer officials, these provisions significantly limit the freedom of player transfers.
The case of Lokomotiv Lokomotiv Russia’s former player, Frenchman Lassan Diarra, who left the club in 2014 three years before his contract expired, has caused a wide resonance. The club appealed to FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber, claiming that the player violated the rules by terminating his contract after he decided to leave Lokomotiv without a valid reason due to a pay cut.
Diarra later intended to be a player of Charleroi (Belgium), but the possibility of cooperation with him was rejected after FIFA refused to sign the international transfer certificate of the footballer. In 2015, Lassana Diarra received a notice from FIFA to pay the Russian club €10 million in damages. The footballer, disagreeing with the decision, filed a lawsuit against FIFA and the Belgian Football Association demanding compensation for his damages. The court sided with Diarra and said that the harsh demands were illegal in the case of the former Lokomotiv Moscow player. The ruling has led to increased calls for FIFA to revise the rules on player transfers.
Justice For Players insists that the rules have victimized more than 100,000 professional footballers contracted to clubs from 2002 to January 2020 (for the UK at the time of its EU membership) and to the present day (for current EU member states). The plaintiffs estimate that each affected footballer has been underpaid around 8% of the potential fees. The exact amount of the claim is kept secret, but it could exceed €5 billion (with an average “underpayment” of €50,000 per player).
The famous Belgian lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont is advising the plaintiffs. The lawyer is known for the fact that in 1995 achieved a favorable court decision on the high-profile “Bosman case”, which recognized that the then existing rules of transfers contrary to the provisions of the Rome Treaty of 1957, and clubs are prohibited from claiming compensation for a player who ran out of contract, and at the end of his contract, he automatically becomes a free agent.
