Transfer system could collapse as European court rules on Diarra v FIFA

PARIS : Soccer's player transfer system will be in the spotlight and could even be on the brink of collapse on Friday when the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) announces its ruling on former France player Lassana Diarra's case against FIFA.

The international transfer system, which processes hundreds of millions of dollars each year in player sales and has existed in its current form since 2001, is overseen by world soccer's ruling body.

Diarra challenged it, however, when he successfully claimed in a Belgian court in 2017 that FIFA's transfer rules had blocked him from moving to a new club after his contract was terminated by Lokomotiv Moscow.

FIFA's regulations state that if a player breaches his contract, which is then terminated by the club, his new team is jointly liable with the player to pay compensation to his old one - which happened when Charleroi attempted to sign Diarra after his contract was ended by the Russian club in 2014.

FIFA refused to issue an International Transfer Certificate (ITC), effectively preventing Charleroi from registering Diarra with the Belgian federation.

In April 2015, FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) ordered Diarra to pay 10 million euros ($11 million) to Lokomotiv Moscow.

Because the former Chelsea, Arsenal and Real Madrid midfielder was without a club, however, it ruled that any future employer would not be jointly liable to pay compensation and Diarra joined Olympique de Marseille.

NEW RULES

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected Diarra's appeal against FIFA's ruling but the player sued FIFA and the Royal Belgian Football Association in a Belgian court for damages and six million euros in loss of earnings since the clubs interested in signing him for the