Bosman ruling 236166 225081971 2008-07-11T20:04:28Z 209.66.200.106 /* Effect on UEFA and its response */ {{Unreferenced|date=May 2008}} The '''Bosman ruling''' ''(Union Royal Belges des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL & others v. Jean-Marc Bosman; Case C-415/93, ECR I-4921)'' is a [[1995]] [[European Court of Justice]] decision concerning [[freedom of movement for workers]], [[freedom of association]] and [[direct effect]] of article 39 (formerly 48) of the [[EC Treaty]]. The case was an important decision on the free movement of labour and had a profound effect on the transfers of football players within the EU. The case banned restrictions of foreign EU members within the national leagues and allowed [[professional]] football players in the [[European Union]] (EU) to [[Free transfer (soccer)|move freely]] to another club at the end of their term of contract with their present team. As a consequence, many footballers born outside of the [[EU]] now take advantage of EU naturalisation rules to obtain a [[passport]] of an EU member country, (by for example investigating whether they had any European ancestors, or by meeting long term residency requirements), to enhance their employability across Europe. For example, many Brazilians have acquired Portuguese nationality, many Argentinians acquire Spanish or Italian nationality etc. The ruling was made in a consolidation of three separate legal cases, all involving [[Belgium|Belgian]] player '''[[Jean-Marc Bosman]]''': *'''''[[Belgian Football Association|Union royale belge des sociétés de football association ASBL]] v Jean-Marc Bosman''''' *'''''[[R.F.C. de Liège|Royal club liégeois SA]] v Jean-Marc Bosman and others''''' *'''''[[UEFA|Union Européenne de Football Association (UEFA)]] v Jean-Marc Bosman''''' ==Initial challenge== Bosman was a player in the [[Jupiler League]], whose contract had expired in [[1990]]. He wanted to change teams and move to [[USL Dunkerque|Dunkerque]], a French team. However, Dunkerque didn't offer his Belgian club [[R.F.C. de Liège|RFC Liège]] <!--NOT Standard Liège-->enough of a transfer fee, so Liège refused to let him go. In the meantime, Bosman's wages were reduced as he was no longer a first-team player. He took his case to the European Court of Justice in [[Luxembourg]] and sued for [[restraint of trade]] citing [[FIFA]]'s rules regarding football, specifically Article 17. After a tough legal battle he won his case, and on [[December 15]], [[1995]] the court ruled that the system as it was constituted a restriction on the free movement of workers and was prohibited by Article 39(1) of the [[Treaty of Rome|EC Treaty]]. Bosman and all other EU football players were given the right to a [[free transfer (soccer)|free transfer]] at the end of their contracts, with the provision that they were transferring from a club within one EU Association to a club within another EU Association. Prior to that, professional clubs in parts of Europe (but not, for example, in Spain and France) were able to prevent players from joining another club even if their contracts had expired. [In Britain, Transfer Tribunals had been in place since 1981 to solve disputes over fees between clubs when transferring players at the end of their contracts.] In addition to this, a player can sign a pre-contract with another club for a free transfer if the players' contract with their existing club has 6 months or less remaining. The Bosman ruling can be compared to the [[Curt Flood]] case in baseball, which led to the elimination of the [[reserve clause]] and the advent of [[free agent|free agency]]. ==Effect on UEFA and its response== The Bosman ruling also prohibited domestic football leagues in EU member states, and also [[UEFA]], from imposing quotas on foreign players to the extent that they discriminated against nationals of EU states. At that time, many leagues placed quotas restricting the number of non-nationals allowed on member teams. Also, UEFA had a rule that prohibited teams in its competitions, namely the [[UEFA Champions League|Champions League]], [[UEFA Cup Winners' Cup|Cup Winners' Cup]] and [[UEFA Cup]], from naming more than three "foreign" players in their matchday squads. After the ruling, quotas could still be imposed, but could only be used to restrict the number of non-EU players on each team. On [[April 21]], [[2005]], UEFA 52 member federations unanimously approved a rule designed to increase the number of locally trained players. The measure is an attempt to reverse some of the effects of the Bosman ruling. UEFA's chief executive [[Lars-Christer Olsson]] was reported by CNN to have said that some of the major clubs in Europe like [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]] and [[Real Madrid C.F.|Real Madrid]] were not happy with this rule, and that he didn't rule out the possibility of a court challenge. == Effect on other sports == The Bosman ruling was considered and distinguished in ''[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:61996J0176:EN:HTML Lehtonen]'' (2000), a similar case which involved a deadline imposed by [[International Basketball Federation|FIBA]] after which basketball teams could not include players who had played for another team in the same season, where it was found that such a restriction was lawful. == See also == * [[George_Eastham#Newcastle_United|''Eastham v. Newcastle United'']], a similar 1963 court case in England. * [[Seitz decision]], a similar 1975 [[arbitration]] case in the [[United States of America|United States]]. * [[Kolpak ruling]], which extended Bosman to countries with an associate trading relationship with the EU, most notably the [[ACP countries]] * [[Webster ruling]], a post-Bosman ruling which formalised the 'buy-out' rules for disputed transfers of players still within their contract term == External links == * [http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=en&numdoc=61993J0415 Text of the ECJ Ruling] * {{cite web |url=http://www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/bosman.html |title=The Bosman Case, EU Law and the Transfer System |first=Geoff |last=Pearson |location=[[Liverpool]] |accessdate=2008-01-24 |publisher=Football Industry Group, [[University of Liverpool]]}} == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:1995 in football (soccer)]] [[Category:1995 in law]] [[Category:Employment law]] [[Category:European Court of Justice]] [[Category:European Union legal cases]] [[Category:Football (soccer) terminology]] [[Category:Sports law]] [[ca:Llei Bosman]] [[de:Bosman-Entscheidung]] [[el:Κανονισμός Μποσμάν]] [[es:Caso Bosman]] [[fr:Arrêt Bosman]] [[ko:보스만룰]] [[is:Bosman-dómurinn]] [[it:Sentenza Bosman]] [[he:חוק בוסמן]] [[nl:Bosmanarrest]] [[ja:ボスマン判決]] [[no:Bosmandommen]] [[pl:Prawo Bosmana]] [[fi:Bosman-sääntö]] [[sv:Bosmandomen]] [[zh:博斯曼法案]]