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Lassana Diarra on Bosman’s trail
Like the Belgian Jean-Marc Bosman, the Frenchman Lassana Diarra (39) rebelled against the system. Because his former club Lokomotiv Moscow cut his salary in August 2014, Diarra no longer saw himself bound by his contract.
The club sued him for breach of contract, FIFA fined the player ten million euros and also threatened clubs that wanted to sign him with a fine.
Diarra and the lawyers who once represented Bosman took legal action against FIFA. In 2017, they were awarded compensation of 60,001 euros by a Belgian commercial court in the first instance because a move to the Belgian club Royal Charleroi did not take place due to FIFA’s threat of punishment. The ECJ is now sending the case back to the Belgian court with its decision.
Are there now a threat of “anarchy” and “chaos”, as the Guardian suspected before the verdict was announced? In the future, will players be able to terminate their current contract at will because they feel they have been treated unfairly, for example by being fined for making critical statements towards the club? No, says specialist lawyer Lambertz, “thank God I don’t see that. I don’t see any major disruption to the entire football market either.”
