FIFA, at the center of a historic lawsuit: what is it about?

As expected, not even the governing body of world football is exempt from controversies and even receiving lawsuits, as is happening in this case to the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA), which received a complaint from a Dutch organization.

In this regard, the Foundation for Justice for Players (JfP) filed a lawsuit against the entity chaired by Gianni Infantino. It was presented on behalf of the players within the framework of the case of the player Lass Diarra.

It is worth remembering that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in favor of the former French footballer in his dispute against FIFA, after preventing him in 2014 from terminating his contract with Lokomotiv Moscow to sign for Charleroi.

The CJEU puts FIFA against the ropes

The CJEU concluded last October that certain FIFA rules on international transfers of footballers violate Union Law, by limiting the free movement of players and restricting competition between clubs, for which the Diarra case was cited as an example of this.

Thus, after declaring as illegal certain rules of the organization that have caused economic damage to the players, the CJEU gave way to the opening of a collective claim on a European scale. The legal action was filed with the District Court of Midden-Nederland against FIFA and several federations.

“The Court of Justice declares that these rules as a whole are contrary to Union Law. On the one hand, the rules in question may hinder the free movement of professional footballers who wish to progress in their careers and work for a new club, established in the territory of another Member State of the Union”, the CJEU pointed out in its October ruling.

What is the JfP looking for with this lawsuit?

In this argumentative order, the JfP explained that its intention is to legally represent all players who have been part of clubs in the European Union and the United Kingdom since 2002, provided they have been harmed by FIFA regulations recently declared illegal.

Likewise, according to the official statement, the scope of the initiative could be massive, because preliminary estimates indicate that about 100,000 footballers would be affected by the economic and professional consequences derived from these rules.

To give a greater angle to what the complaint represents, it is worth remembering that a preliminary analysis carried out by a series of economists from 'Compass Lexecon' revealed that the affected professional footballers received around 8% less than they should have received in their careers due to FIFA regulations.

So far FIFA has not commented on the lawsuit, but this fact marks a new milestone in the history of football, considering that it is the highest body that is under the magnifying glass.