G14 joins Charleroi's action against FIFA

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The G-14, the group representing the interests of Europe’s leading clubs, announced that it had filed with the Registry of the Charleroi Commercial Court an “application for voluntary intervention” (under Article 813 of the Belgian Judicial Code).

The case in question is that brought by Royal Charleroi Sporting Club (RCSC), a football club playing in the top Jupiler Division of Belgium, with the claim that Articles 36 to 40 of the FIFA regulations (July 2001 version) are illegal. These are the regulations requiring clubs to make players available for national team duty “under conditions unilaterally imposed on them by the governing bodies.” The application for voluntary intervention makes the G14 a full party in the court proceedings against FIFA, although the body which now unites eighteen clubs does not count Charleroi, nor any other Belgian club among its membership.

The cause of the action is the injury sustained by Abdelmajid Oulmers, a player for Charleroi, in November 2004 in a friendly match between Morocco, his national side, and Burkina-Faso. The player suffered a rupture in the ligament in his left ankle and was operated on that evening in Rabat by Professor Khoutabi, the physician to the royal family of the kingdom. It was the player’s first national selection. The player has had two further operations and was not able to begin training again until the end of May in preparation for the 2005/06 season.

FIFA Articles 36 to 40 stipulate that clubs must allow international players to appear for national duties and Article 37 stipulates that a club so doing has no right to any financial indemnity and is solely responsible for insurance costs. RCSC’s lawyer, M Jean-Pierre Deprez has claimed that the relevant FIFA Articles are contrary to the European Treaty of Union especially Articles 81 (restrictions on free competition) and Article 82 (abuse of a dominant position). According to Deprez at the end of May the Belgian FA tried to put pressure on RCSC to end its action, at the behest of FIFA, and club turned to the G14 which promised its support and the representation of its lawyer M. Jean-Louis Dupont, who was behind the successful conclusion of the Bosman case.

A date for the preliminary hearings will be announced on 19 September. The case, representing a classic club versus country clash, fits in with one of the main areas where the G14 has been trying to achieve change against the current policies of national and international football federations. In a statement, Thomas Kurth, general manager of the G14 said: “In March 2004, G14 filed a complaint with the Swiss Competition Commission (COMOCO) claiming violations of Swiss competition law committed by FIFA in adopting and using the same regulations cited by Royal Charleroi. As it is G14’s wish to seek a once and for all clarification if these regulations are legal, it is sensible for us to join this case.” The COMOCO investigation is still on-going.