Royal Antwerp: Legal bid to torch football’s homegrown quotas suffers shock defeat Sport Business A bid to rip up European football’s rules on homegrown player quotas – likened to the landmark Bosman ruling – has been dismissed in a surprise move by a Belgian court. The case, brought by Royal Antwerp and former player Lior Refaelov, had been expected to be upheld after the European Court of Justice gave [...]
Landmark Royal Antwerp case is another test of EU’s appetite to help football consumers Sport Business EU law protects market competition but has been used too little to help football fans. Worse still, Europe has helped the big clubs to increase their market power, writes Tsjalle van der Burg. Football tickets have become expensive. Paris Saint-Germain currently top the European ranking: in 2024-25, the average admission price for a seat was [...]
Royal Antwerp: ‘New Bosman’ set to torch Uefa rules and spark mega class action Sport Business European football faces an imminent legal bombshell likened to the Bosman Ruling that could scrap quotas for homegrown players and leave Uefa facing a hugely costly class action. The Royal Antwerp ruling has major implications for Uefa nations, potentially including England, who require clubs to have a minimum number of nationally-trained players, as well as [...]
Fifa accused of bullying in attempt to kill off multi-billion class action claim July 3, 2026 Fifa has been accused of using bullying tactics in a bid to kill off a class action lawsuit claiming billions in lost earnings from football’s governing body on behalf of current and former players. Justice For Players is pursuing a mega claim deriving from the European Court of Justice’s landmark Diarra Ruling, which declared Fifa’s [...]
Fifpro accused of leaving footballers ‘in the cold’ by doing deal with Fifa June 15, 2026 Global player union Fifpro has been accused of leaving thousands of footballers “in the cold” by accepting a deal with Fifa. Justice For Players, a class action claiming billions after Fifa’s transfer rules were deemed illegal, says it is “disappointed” that Fifpro agreed to ask its members to drop any legal action in exchange for [...]
Has Fifa quietly made mandatory release clauses the future of football transfers? June 12, 2026 It was easy to miss amid the hullabaloo surrounding the start of the 2026 World Cup, but earlier this week Fifa announced the biggest changes to football’s global transfer rules for 25 years. Fifa patted itself on the back for “a major step forward”, emphasising the new regulatory framework had been “developed through a collaborative [...]
Fifa urged to settle multi-billion-pound claim 30 years on from Bosman December 15, 2025 Fifa has been urged to settle a class action claim which lawyers say is worth billions of pounds in the wake of the Diarra ruling, which has been compared to the landmark Bosman case. Justice For Players says 100,000 professional footballers suffered loss of earnings averaging eight per cent over more than 20 years as [...]
Justice for Players: Multi-billion-pound class action lawsuit against Fifa bolstered by Dutch union November 13, 2025 The class action lawsuit being brought against football’s world governing body Fifa and backed by the lawyers who achieved the landmark Bosman and Diarra rulings has been bolstered by support from another national player union. The Association of Contract Players (VVCS), which represents male and female professional footballers in the Netherlands, has joined the legal [...]
Ed Warner: Are we witnessing the slow death of the transfer fee? October 17, 2024 Football transfer fees for superstar players make headlines, but in years to come we may look back on them as a quirk of history, argues Ed Warner. Another international break in the football calendar. Time for managers to fret about risk of injury to “their” players while away on national duty. Chairmen, too, to worry [...]