A Dutch foundation wants to dispute damages at FIFA and other national associations. The background is an ECJ judgment on ex-professional Lassana Diarra.
A wave of lawsuits is rolling up to the World Football Association FIFA and other national associations such as the German Football Association (DFB). The Dutch Foundation “Justice for Players” (JFP/Justice for Players) wants to dispute damages in billions for players who have played for clubs in the EU since 2002 – or until the United Kingdom leaves from the EU in January 2020 at clubs on the island and in Northern Ireland.
The lawsuit is the result of a judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In October, the judges decided in favor of the former professional Lassana Diarra: The former midfielder of Chelsea and Arsenal FC had claimed that some of the FIFA transfer rules restricted their freedom of movement and violated the EU’s competition law.
Agency has submitted an action for collecting
As JFP announced, a class action law was submitted on Monday: against FIFA and the national associations in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. Other associations could follow. In this case, the JFP is advised by Diarra’s Belgian lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont-he also rode the Bosman judgment in 1995.
According to JFP, around 100,000 footballers are affected by the “illegal” FIFA rules. They “deserved about eight percent less in the course of their career than they deserved without the illegal restrictions on the FIFA rules”. According to “preliminary analyzes”, the damage amounts to several billion euros.