Other European Transfer News

While perhaps, I can’t claim to have studied law of any kind. That said I still have a question.

Has a professional soccer player ever used legal action to force his club or in this case league to sell him?

Maybe you can site an example but I've never heard of such a scenario. It would turn the soccer world on its head. Ronaldo wants to leave ManU he just goes to the courts and argues that playing in Spain is better for his career. Hundreds of players would do it every year. I repeat it would be a mess.

 

While this has nothing to do with this specific thing you guys are debating, once upon a time there was a man named Jean-Marc Bosman who took his club to court about his contract and wanting to leave after his contract was up.

In essence, this court ruling allowed players to leave freely without their team getting a transfer fee after his contract was up. Additionally, it allowed a player to start negotiating a new deal within six months of the end of his current deal. This was a landmark court case in the world of football and perhaps there will be other landmark cases down the road. Never say never.

Once again, this has nothing to do with your debate, but the point I am making is that there is a first for everything.

For more on the Bosman Free Transfer court case, check the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosman_Free_Transfer

 

Tom makes a good point about the Bosman case below, which I have a link to in a previous post. Just because there is no on point precedent for taking your team to court to force a transfer, does not necessarily mean it would be impossible or unsuccessful. You'll note in my previous arguments that I also pointed out how no European leagues compete with MSL in regards to its season, for one, and that any claimed damages by MSL would be offset by the transfer fee. These issues along with a large discrepancy in potential pay versus current, and other issues would form the outline of a case against the MSL. No, it's not a nice neat cookie cutter approach, with an established precedent, but that does not mean that a challenge could not be pursued. With the MSL you are dealing with arguably a monopoly that is attempting to control and cap salaries, as well as, as Don points out, restrain free trade. Especially if there were a large discrepancy between what the player and current team (or league) was being offered by way of tranfer fee, I think you could arguably make a claim against that team or league.

Spencer, I appreciate your inquisitiveness, but all the ruling and laws in the world do not yet exits. You have to take many bits and pieces from many previous cases to establish your own case, but the fact that one specifically related to this issue does not exist, only shows that you would have to establish your case in court or in front of an arbitrator. Because if there were a case on point, we would not be having this conversation.

 

I appreciate the answer to my question. This is sort of similar to clubs wanting to be compensated by national federations for their players services.

If and when this type of suit happens. I hope the player fails in his quest. The last thing I want to see is a player get hot and then demand to be sold to a bigger club and leave the club with no choice. It would make things even more difficult for teams like Fulham. Really what’s the points of having contracts if you don't have to honor those contracts?

 

This is not what the discussion was about. Take a page from Zack and re-read the posts.