FIFA has been hit by a class action regarding unlawful rules that affect football players and the lack of control of when and how they are allowed to leave their football clubs, which resulted in a "significant" loss of income. The class action has been filed by Justice for Players, a Dutch association, to a District Court in the Netherlands, and also affect some national federations (via Business Wire).
This whole situation started when French player Lassana Diarra was fined 10 million euros by FIFA and received a 15-month ban on professional football for breaching contract, leaving Lokomotiv Moscow in the summer of 2014. Ten years later, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in favour of Diarra, finding that some of FIFA's rules on player transfers went against European Union laws and free movement principles.
In response to that ruling, Justice for Players (JfP), a foundation aiming to represent football players in Europe, demands compensation to possibly up to 100,000 players in Europe who may have been affected by FIFA's rules since 2002. The lawsuit also targets the French, German, Belgian, Danish, and Dutch football federations.
According to an study by Compass Lexecon requested by JfP, players may have earned around 8% less during their careers than what they would have earned without FIFA's "unlawful" regulations. The compensations could be potentially billions of euros. Now, it's up to the Midden-Nederland District Court.
FIFPRO, the largest football player union, has said in a statement saying that they will "thoroughly assess the foundation's initiative", but so far it sounds like they support on paper. "As the collective voice of professional footballers in Europe, FIFPRO Europe will always support fair compensation for affected players whose rights were breached".