Diarra new Bosman, the Court of Justice of the EU finds FIFA wrong. Will football change?

The Court of Justice of the European Union issued a historic ruling on the case Friday morning “Lassana Diarra and FifPro against FIFA and the Belgian Football Federation”, dealing a very hard blow to the body chaired by Gianni Infantino. “The FIFA rules on player transfers violate European Union law”, reads the ruling, as “they risk hindering free circulation of professional footballers who wish to develop their business by going to work in a new club”

This ruling comes at the end of a decade of litigation. In August 2014, French international Lassana Diarra was signed by Lokomotiv Moscow and signed a 3-season contract, but his club claimed that the player had terminated his contract without “just cause”, demanding €20 million in compensation in an appeal lodged before the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber.

The former French midfielder for Real, Chelsea, PSG and Arsenal, who retired in 2019, has filed a lawsuit to have his right to free movement of workers in Europe recognized. In 2014 he was unable to sign for the Belgians Charleroi, after the stormy farewell with Lokomotiv Moscow, precisely because FIFA denied him this possibility. In addition to the compensation to be paid to the Russians, the player was also ordered to pay a fine of 10.5 million for damages.

Diarra opposed this rule and this led to the clash, which today saw the player win. An epochal sentence; the case is far from closed (it will be discussed again in the Belgian courts) but it could create a dangerous precedent and grant players the power to terminate their contracts at any time, demolishing the structure on which the current transfer market is based. Huge damage for the clubs.