LASSANA DIARRA VS FIFA – huge implications on the transfer market
The European Court of Justice have confirmed that some of FIFA’s rules on player transfers are illegal in accordance with their legislation.
This is in relation to the freedom of movement between football clubs, which looks to change the bargaining power between players and their clubs – it might allow players to easily break contracts with no consequences.
Diarra had previously challenged these rules due to his difficulty in finding a new club after he had his contract with Lokomotiv Moscow terminated in 2014 because he was dissatisfied with alleged pay cuts. The club applied to FIFA’s dispute resolution chamber for compensation and the Court held that they had terminated the contract justly and ordered Diarra to pay £8.8 million.
Diarra wanted to challenge as he argued that his search for a new club was obstructed by FIFA’s rules saying that any new side would be jointly and severally liable for the compensation. He was meant to join a Belgian team which allegedly fell through – he then sued FIFA and the Belgian federation for damages and loss of earnings of £6 million. This has now arrived at Europe’s main court who delivered the judgment regarding the illegality.
This judgment has huge consequences for FIFA’s transfer system – it may allow players to break their contracts and sign with new clubs, without the leverage to demand a high transfer fee. This will likely cause lower transfer fees and mean that lower league clubs will suffer – those that develop young talent to make a profit.