Football faces 'second Bosman' in club-versus-country conflict

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The lawsuit filed by the Belgium club Charleroi against FIFA, which is being handed by an industrial court in Charleroi and set to start in March, could have serious consequences for world football, and could swing the balance between the club game and international football towards the clubs.

According to experts, the lawsuit could be as fundamental to the sport's future as Jean-Marc Bosman court-room battle of 10 years ago. Bosman changed football more than any individual when he won his challenge over players' contracts. The verdict had a massive effect on football's finances, particularly transfers and players' wages.

Last season the club withdrew their best player, midfielder Abdelmajid Oulmers, from the Morocco squad for a friendly against Burkina Faso to protect him from injury. FIFA, however, ruled that Oulmers had to join his national team, and play the match. During the match, Oulmers tore the ankle ligaments and was out of action for eight months. The club which finished fifth in the domestic league, missed a place in the lucrative Champions League, blamed their failure on the loss of Oulmers, and now are suing FIFA for compensation.

This case represents another battle in the lasting club-versus-country conflict over compensation for releasing players to international duty. The court will look at whether clubs have to release their players for international duty without recourse to compensation or insurance for an injury. Legal experts believe that the case will go to the European Court and, should the club win, FIFA’s policy on players being released for international matches would be thrown into disarray.

FIFA does pay the national associations a varying, generally modest, amount for taking part in its competitions. But while some national associations do pay for their players to be released for national duty, and insures its international players, the poorer associations, notably in Latin America and Africa, cannot afford to do so.

The clubs' disaffection with international call-ups for their players will intensify during the build-up to the African Nations Cup. The tournament in Egypt runs from 20 January to 10 February 2006 and many European clubs are bound, under FIFA regulations, to release players already for pre-tournament training camps.

The lawsuit however has moved far beyond the realms of the Belgian league, with the powerful G14 group of Europe's top clubs funding the club’s case. The G14 have already challenged FIFA in the Swiss Competition Commission, arguing for greater involvement in the running of the international game and for what it describes as “appropriate compensation for the mandatory release of players”.

G14 general manager, former UEFA executive Thomas Kurth, argues that times have changed since FIFA was formed. The rules were made in 1904, and the big clubs now have a right to be directly involved and paid. “We don't want clubs to get money every time a player is released. We only want a percentage of the income from large competitions. The size of the percentage is still to be discussed,” Kurth commented to media.

Lawyer Jean Louis Dupont, who represented Bosman’s case, represents the club in their lawsuit. According to Dupont, FIFA is abusing its dominant market position, in breach of EU competition law. "They (FIFA) are getting the most important ingredients - the footballers - for free. In the case of an injury, they (clubs) don't even get any compensation," Dupont commented to media.

FIFA have refused to comment on the case, saying that they will wait until the legal process is over. FIFA however maintains that this whole campaign attacks the very basis of the organization of football. FIFA’s President Sepp Blatter, points to the fact that FIFA’s role is to develop the sport with the money it makes and, after costs, the rest is distributed to poor national associations and the Goal football development programme. If the rich European clubs were allowed a central role in FIFA, and paid a major share of World Cup revenue, that development money would be affected. Plus, the big clubs already benefit from the profile of international football.

FIFA says it wants to maintain the traditional sporting structure and not give an inch, but it has talked already about introducing a fund to insure players against injury incurred on international duty.