EU top court says some FIFA transfer rules breach EU law

Some of the transfer rules of world soccer’s governing body FIFA go against European Union laws on free movement, the EU’s top court said on Friday in a ruling on a high-profile case linked to former France player Lassana Diarra.

The verdict deals a blow to FIFA and means the Switzerland-based body was likely to have to revamp its player transfer rules.

“Some FIFA rules on international transfers of professional footballers are contrary to EU law,” the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said.

“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.”

FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) 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 joint and severally liable for payment of compensation.

The case came before the CJEU after former French footballer Lassana Diarra, 39, challenged the rules governing contractual relations between players and clubs.

It will now be up to the Belgian which is handling Diarra’s case and had sought guidance from the CJEU to decide whether the case meets the conditions outlined in the ruling.

The European court added that EU antitrust rules were also applicable to the sports governing body, meaning FIFA can only restrict free competition with its transfer rules if it can demonstrate this is indispensable and necessary to protect the market, which the court said likely wasn’t the case.