Former France midfielder Lassana Diarra has restarted legal proceedings seeking £56m in compensation from Fifa and the Royal Belgian Football Association.
Diarra has had a long-running legal battle with world football’s governing body Fifa, with his legal team having challenged some of Fifa’s rules after the termination of his contract with Lokomotiv Moscow in 2014.
In October the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found that Fifa’s rules which govern the way some football transfers work break European Union laws.
Diarra, who played in the Premier League for Chelsea, Arsenal and Portsmouth, said on Monday he hoped Fifa and the RBFA “would at least have the decency to approach me to propose an amicable settlement”.
With that not being the case, the 40-year-old has decided to restart national proceedings in Belgium.
The CJEU said that, by refusing to provide Diarra with an international transfer certificate (ITC) for a proposed move to Belgian club Charleroi in 2015, Fifa showed that its rules “impede the free movement of professional footballers wishing to develop their activity by going to work for a new club”.
Fifa had ordered Diarra to pay £8.4m to Lokomotiv Moscow after he was found to have breached his contract with the Russian club.
Diarra has the support of professional footballers’ unions FifPro, FifPro Europe and the UNFP in France.
“I have been forced to fight this legal battle since August 2014. That’s more than 11 years,” Diarra said in a joint media release., external
“I am doing this for myself – but I have also done it for all the up-and-coming, lesser-known players who do not have the financial and psychological means to challenge Fifa before real judges.”
Fifa amended its transfer regulations following the CJEU ruling, adopting an interim framework on the calculation of compensation payable and burden of proof if there is a breach of contract.
However, Diarra said those amendments “do not comply with the strict requirements imposed by the CJEU judgement”.
A Fifa spokesperson said: “Since the ECJ issued its ruling in the Diarra case in October 2024, Fifa has been working with its stakeholders to amend its regulations following the guidance offered by the ECJ.
“Fifa does not comment on on-going legal matters.”
The CJEU ruling also prompted Dutch foundation Justice for Players (JFP) to start a class action lawsuit against Fifa, along with the football associations of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark, seeking compensation over alleged loss of income because of restrictive transfer rules.
“We stand firmly alongside Mr Diarra,” JFP said on Monday. It said Fifa’s “temporary changes to the transfer rules… still don’t fully comply with EU law” and urged players to join its class action.
The RBFA have also been approached for comment.
