An adviser to Europe's top court suggested Tuesday that some of FIFA's rules on player transfers might violate EU regulations by hindering players seeking to change teams and clubs aiming to recruit players.
The case before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) involved former French professional footballer Lassana Diarra, 39, who contested the rules governing contractual relations between players and clubs.
Diarra joined Russian football club Lokomotiv Moscow in 2013 but had his contract terminated a year later over an alleged breach. Lokomotiv then sought compensation from the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, while the player filed a counterclaim for unpaid wages.
The player argued that FIFA rules, which state that a new club would be jointly liable with him for paying compensation to Lokomotiv, hindered his efforts to find another team.
He subsequently sued FIFA and the Royal Belgian Football Association in a Belgian court for damages and 6 million euros ($6.43 million) in loss of earnings. The Belgian court then asked the CJEU for guidance.
Diarra, who made more than 30 appearances for France, later played for club sides Olympique de Marseille, Al-Jazira, and Paris Saint-Germain before retiring in 2019.
Advocate General Maciej Szpunar at the CJEU said judges should side with the player.
"Some FIFA rules on the transfer of players may prove to be contrary to EU law. These rules are of a restrictive nature and may only be justified in specific circumstances," he wrote in a non-binding opinion.
He said the rules limit clubs' ability to recruit players and affect competition between clubs in the market for the acquisition of professional players.
The CJEU, which will rule in the coming months, usually follows the majority of such recommendations.
Diarra's lawyers said a judgment backing the footballer would be a milestone in modernizing football governance in the bloc as it would allow players' unions and clubs' unions to regulate their employment practices.
"This will put an end to the degrading practice of commoditizing players," lawyers Jean-Louis Dupont and Martin Hissel said in a joint statement.
The case is C-650/22 FIFA.