Fifa has been urged to settle a class action claim which lawyers say is worth billions of pounds in the wake of the Diarra ruling, which has been compared to the landmark Bosman case.
Justice For Players says 100,000 professional footballers suffered loss of earnings averaging eight per cent over more than 20 years as a result of Fifa transfer rules which were successfully challenged by former France midfielder Lassana Diarra last year.
The call for a resolution comes on the 30th anniversary of the Bosman ruling, which transformed the transfer system by allowing footballers to move clubs without a fee once their contracts expired.
“The best way would be to settle, instead of going to court, because it is a long way,” Justice For Players board member Dolf Segaar told City AM.
“It depends a bit on whether the [Dutch] court will push Fifa as well to start negotiations on the settlement. And if so, then it’s more likely that we can indeed come up with a settlement.
“We have not calculated an amount yet. We are still working on it in the final report. But if you have eight per cent of 100,000 players during a period of 2002-24 you’re talking about billions.”
The class action lawsuit launched by Justice For Players was announced earlier this year and is being brought in the Netherlands but concerns all players from the EU.
The group, which is also calling for global transfer regulations to be re-written, has held initial talks with Fifa lawyers but is not optimistic of a swift solution.
Segaar added: “I think it’s the same as what happened with Bosman. They [Fifa] just wait till the final day and then they start changing. It might be a tactic. I’m not sure what their considerations are. I believe that they have already during the process, internally, decided the next steps.”
Diarra ruling and Justice For Players
Fifa suspended aspects of its transfer rules after the European Court of Justice ruled in favour of former Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea midfielder Diarra 14 months ago but is yet to announce a replacement framework.
Justice For Players says clubs should be more engaged on the reforms as they stand to suffer huge losses if their stars are allowed to buy themselves out of contracts.
“If you do not come up with a suitable solution, then the fear is that players can leave clubs with paying only the residual value of the contract, which is much less than the transfer sum that the club has paid,” said Segaar.
“So there must be a system in which the real value of the players can still be compensated for going from one club to the other.
“I think the clubs are still a bit quiet. On a Uefa level, you can see that there are movements in social dialogue, that they are involved in changes. But I would like to see them a bit more outspoken in this respect.”
Justice For Players has gathered support unions in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Austria and Eastern Europe, and is being advised by one of the lawyers behind the Bosman ruling, Jean-Louis Dupont.
“If we feel that we have sufficient players registered for the claim, then we can start the class action before court,” Segaar added.
“The support of the unions, of course, helps, because that shows to the court that the players support the class action. The more the better, but it’s not a fixed number you need to present.
“For the coming months, we will continue collecting players to register, and we foresee that at the end of the first quarter of next year, we can indeed file a suit before court.
“That’s what we expect will happen. We will see whether we have new meetings with Fifa during the coming months, but there’s no necessity to sit around the table again.”