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What is the Bosman Ruling?

Tuesday, 11. 10. 2009 – Category: Guide to Football Transfer Rumours

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The Bosman ruling was the result of a case made to the European Court of Justice in 1995. The case was put to the court to question the system of transfers of football players between quotes. It also challenged the ‘quota system’ which restricted the number of foreign players that were allowed to play in a club match. The resulting decision applies to all bodies that are responsible for governing football (e.g. the F.A) that are based in the EU, and in turn affects clubs who play in any UEFA competitions, e.g. the Champions League.

What was the old transfer system?

Before the Bosman ruling, a football player could transfer between clubs if both the buying and selling club agreed. This still the case for most transfers, however in the old system also applied to players who weren’t under contract with the selling club. As a consequence, transfer fees still needed to be paid for players who were out of contact, or at least the selling club needed to grant the player a free transfer.
The other element of football transfers that the Bosman ruling effected were player quotas, which restricted the number of foreign players that could play for a club in a particularl match. In UEFA club competitions, a team could only field 3 foreign players, plus 2 ‘assimilated’ foreign player per match. Clubs could sign more than 5 foreign players, but they were restricted on a per match basis.

What exactly was the Bosman Case?

History is made out of small deeds, the ‘Bosman’ in question was a Belgian named Jean-Marc Bosman who’s contract with the Belgian club RFC Liege had expired. Bosman had an offer on the table from French club Dunkerque, however Liege refused to release Bosman without the payment of a transfer fee. To add insult to injury, Liege dropped Bosman’s wage, and made him play with first the reserve team, and then the youth team.

Bosman took his case to the European Court of justice, claiming that as a citizen of the EU, he possessed the right to ‘freedom of movement’ within the EU to look for work. The current transfer system prevented him from exercising these rights. Bosman proposed that the transfer system should change so that out of contract players could freely move to another club without a transfer fee being paid.
The court found in favour of Bosman, and made two significant decisions:

It was illegal for clubs to charge transfer fees for out of contract players moving between clubs in EU nations. Transfer fees were still legitimate for players who were still under contract
The quota systems that existed were also illegal, and clubs in the EU could field as many players from other EU states as they wished.

What were the consequences of the Bosman Ruling?

The Bosman Ruling meant that the balance of power between clubs and players shifted significantly in favour of players. Now that players can move for free once they are out of contract, clubs need to tie players to lucrative long term contracts, or risk losing them. Even if the selling clubs do wish to sell players, they need to make sure the player is on a long term contract to maximise the price they can get. The ruling has a significant impact on smaller clubs as well, who may not be able to afford to give long term contracts, meaning that larger clubs can snap up players from smaller clubs for free.
Finally out of contract players become more highly sought after, as there is no transfer fee needed for them, these players can demand higher wages.