Landmark ruling from top EU court says some FIFA rules on transfers are contrary to EU law

Some FIFA rules on player transfers are contrary to European Union legislation relating to competition and freedom of movement, the EU’s top court said on Friday. The European Court of Justice’s ruling came after former France international Lassana Diarra legally challenged FIFA rules following a dispute with a club dating to a decade ago. “The rules in question are such as to impede the free movement of professional footballers wishing to develop their activity by going to work for a new club.” The ruling is seen as crucial because it could make it easier for players to terminate their contracts and join another team — potentially leading to a scenario where bigger clubs could more easily poach players from smaller rivals. In Friday’s ruling, the court added that current rules “impose considerable legal risks, unforeseeable and potentially very high financial risks as well as major sporting risks on those players and clubs wishing to employ them which, taken together, are such as to impede international transfers of those players.” A significant impact? FIFA said the ruling “only puts in question two paragraphs of two articles of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, which the national court is now invited to consider.” The court slammed FIFA’s rules for restricting and preventing cross-border competition between European clubs.