EU court ruling on player transfers is no reason for clubs to panic, says club body

In 2014, Diarra left Lokomotiv Moscow one year into a four-year deal and the club took the matter to FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber, arguing he had breached the rules after the player terminated his contract without just cause.

The CJEU ruled on a high-profile case linked to former France player Lassana Diarra. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

A European court ruling last week that went against existing transfer rules of world football’s governing body FIFA should not be cause for concern, the European Club Association (ECA) said on Thursday.

The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said last week the rules impeded the free movement of professional footballers wanting “to develop their activity by going to work for a new club”.

FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players say a player who terminates a contract before its term “without just cause” is liable to pay compensation to the club, and where the player joins a new club they will be jointly liable for payment of compensation.

The CJEU ruling on a high-profile case linked to former France player Lassana Diarra stated these dispositions were unlawful, and the judgment is expected to prompt FIFA to revamp some of its transfer regulations.

“It (the ruling) is mostly to the benefit of top players. It is early and we need to assess it. We don’t think this case is fundamentally changing the system,” said ECA Vice Chair Dariusz Mioduski, owner of Polish team Legia Warsaw.

“It is simply about introducing some elements of proportionality in certain situations. We don’t see anything in this case that undermines our system. We don’t see this as something to panic about as some people might suggest,” he told a press conference.

In 2014, Diarra left Lokomotiv Moscow one year into a four-year deal and the club took the matter to FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber, arguing he had breached the rules when his contract was terminated after the player decided to leave without just cause following a pay cut.

Diarra received an offer to join Belgian club Charleroi but the club backed out after FIFA refused to sign the International Transfer Certificate, preventing the player being registered with the Belgian federation.

According to the EU court ruling, it is also unlawful to refuse to sign the transfer certificate.

“The (CJEU) judgement does not allow that players can terminate contracts without any consequences,” said Bayern Munich CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen, who is also an ECA vice chair.

“We will see what the impacts are,” Dreesen said.