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 it qualified backing in 2023.
Antwerp and Refaelov argued that homegrown quotas should be deemed illegal on the grounds that they infringed European freedom of movement and competition laws.
But the Court of First Instance of Brussels ruled that the rules were proportionate, justified by public interest objectives and did not excessively restrict the mobility of overseas players.
The decision has been welcomed by sports law experts concerned by the reluctance of European lawmakers to recognise the specificity of sport in the Bosman and Diarra rulings.
“The judgment of the Belgium Court in the Royal Antwerp case on the legality of homegrown player rules should be welcomed by all those who have been calling for a common-sense approach to the application of European competition law and free movement principles to sporting rules,” Darren Bailey of Charles Russell Speechlys told City AM.
He added: “At a time when uncertainty of outcome and competitive balance, two critical elements of what make sport special, are under threat from financially powerful superclubs, the approach of the Belgium Courts may be a sign that the concerns of European institutions and governments across Europe on the need to more robustly recognise the specificity of sport in legal disputes over its rules might finally have been heard by the judges.
“It is to be hoped that this case can pave the way out of a damaging disconnect between the European judiciary and sport which has undoubtedly contributed to many of the challenges confronting the sector today – not least an excessive pipeline of legal challenges which has created a culture of defensive regulation which is not in the sport or public interest.”
Royal Antwerp decision ‘a notable shift’
The Royal Antwerp ruling threatened to have major implications for Uefa nations, potentially including England, who require clubs to have a minimum number of nationally-trained players, as well as for Uefa rules governing the Champions League and other club competitions.
Uefa and all member FAs would have been forced to rewrite their rulebooks if the challenge had been upheld, while European football chiefs would also have faced a massive class action lawsuit, potentially running into the billions of pounds.
Jean-Louis Dupont, the lawyer who achieved the Bosman ruling that upended the transfer system three decades ago, was among those representing Royal Antwerp and Refaelov.
It was the latest major challenge to football’s regulatory framework in the European courts and followed the Diarra ruling, which forced Fifa to rewrite its global transfer rules and spawned the multi-billion-pound Justice For Players class action.
Bailey, the FA’s former director of governance and regulation, added: “In a notable shift of approach to recent cases, the Belgium Court, following a detailed analysis of the football impacts of the rules, found they could not be characterised as anti-competitive by object.
“This was a significant finding since it opened the opportunity for the footballing authorities to justify the rules as being necessary and proportionate to the pursuit of legitimate public interest goals.
“Pleasingly, the court found it indisputable that the rules have the legitimate/public interest of encouraging the training of young players and maintaining competitive balance.”