July 9 (Reuters) - European player unions from 17 nations, including France, Italy, and the Netherlands, have withdrawn their support for aclass action lawsuit against football world governing body FIFA following a governance agreement, they announced in a joint statement on Thursday.
Signed on June 10, the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between FIFA and global players' union FIFPRO runs until December 2031, granting players an official voice in governance and establishing a Global Social Dialogue Platform based on collective bargaining principles.
Seeking damages for an estimated 100,000 eligible players, the independent class action argues that FIFA's restrictive transfer regulations unlawfully restricted freedom of movement and suppressed player wages.
Launched in August 2025 by the Dutch foundation Justice for Players, the suit was initiated after a landmark European Court of Justice ruling against FIFA's transfer regulations.
In an October 2024 ruling, the EU's top court found that certain FIFA transfer regulations breached European Union laws on competition and freedom of movement, following a legal challenge by former Chelsea, Arsenal and Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra.
"The landscape has now materially changed," the unions said in a joint statement, adding that collectively bargained amendments to FIFA's Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players had "materially addressed the main drivers" of their support for the litigation.
"In this new environment, and without prejudice to the personal and independent rights of individual players to make their own choices to claim compensation, the undersigned unions consider that the institutional promotion and active endorsement of the class action no longer serves a purpose, as the governance objectives that motivated it have been achieved," the statement said.
Justice for Players was not immediatelyavailable for comment.
Backing for the decision came from the player unions of Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia and Sweden.
FIFA said in early June it had reached a final out-of-court settlement with Diarra to resolve the dispute.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Chopra)
