BRUSSELS (AP) — FIFA rules on transfers can conflict with European Union legislation relating to competition and freedom of movement because they limit possibilities for players to change clubs, and for clubs to hire, a senior EU legal adviser said on Tuesday.
Advocate General Maciej Szpunar gave his opinion after French soccer player Lassana Diarra legally challenged FIFA rules.
The Diarra case went through FIFA judicial bodies before the 2016 election of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who has made it a priority to modernize transfer market rules.
Former France international Diarra signed a four-year contract with Lokomotiv Moscow in 2013. The deal was terminated a year later after Diarra was unhappy with alleged pay cuts.
Lokomotiv Moscow applied to the FIFA dispute resolution chamber for compensation and the player submitted a counterclaim seeking compensation for unpaid wages. The Court of Arbitration for Sport found the Russian club terminated the contract with Diarra “with just cause” and the player was condemned to pay 10.5 million euros ($11.2 million).
Diarra claimed his search for a new club was hampered by FIFA rules stipulating that any new side would be jointly responsible with him for paying compensation to Lokomotiv.
The former Real Madrid player also argued that a potential deal with Belgian club Charleroi fell through because of the FIFA rules, and sued FIFA and the Belgian federation at a Belgian court for damages and loss of earnings of six million euros ($7 million).
Szpunar proposed the European Court of Justice should reply to the questions referred by the Belgian tribunal “by finding that the FIFA rules governing contractual relations between players and clubs may prove to be contrary to the European rules on competition and freedom of movement of persons."
“He finds that there can be no doubt as to the restrictive nature of (FIFA transfer regulations) with regard to freedom of movement," the court said in a statement, noting the restrictive rules can be justified only in specific circumstances.
“These provisions are such as to discourage and dissuade clubs from hiring the player for fear of financial risk. The sporting sanctions faced by clubs hiring the player can effectively prevent a player from exercising his or her profession with a club located in another member state.”
Advocates General routinely provide legal guidance to the ECJ. Their opinions aren’t binding on the Luxembourg-based court, but are followed in most cases.
Concerning competition rules, Szpunar found that FIFA rules on transfers, “by limiting clubs’ ability to recruit players, necessarily affect competition between clubs on the market for the acquisition of professional players.”
Szpunar's opinion follows a court ruling last year finding that UEFA and FIFA acted unlawfully to block the rebel Super League.
AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - France's Lassana Diarra reacts during the international friendly soccer match between England and France at Wembley Stadium in London, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015. A senior legal adviser says some FIFA rules on transfer of players can be in breach of European Union legislation relating to competition and freedom of movement. Advocate General Maciej Szpunar gave an opinion on Tuesday after French soccer player Lassana Diarra challenged FIFA rules. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man was sentenced to 80 years in prison Friday for raping a woman a year before he was charged with kidnapping and killing a school teacher who was on an early morning run.
Cleotha Abston, whose history of criminal charges dates back to the 1990s when he was a juvenile, received 40 years in prison for aggravated rape, 20 years for aggravated kidnapping and another 20 years for being a felon in possession of a weapon. The sentences will run consecutively, or one after the other, Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee ruled.
Abston, 40, was convicted April 12 of raping a woman while holding her at gunpoint in September 2021. The victim said she had been raped after meeting Abston on a social dating site and agreeing to meet him at his apartment. A jury found Abston covered the woman's face with a T-shirt, walked her outside the apartment and raped her in the backseat of his girlfriend’s vehicle.
Coffee said Abston treated the victim with “exceptional cruelty.”
Abston waived a sentencing hearing in which witnesses could have testified for or against him. His lawyer, Juni Ganguli, said waiving a sentencing hearing meant they were able to avoid a “circus” in court. Prosecutor Paul Hagerman said Abston received what is “effectively a life sentence.”
Ganguli said he plans to appeal the conviction and he will file a motion for a new trial.
“We had a strong defense,” Ganguli told reporters outside court Friday. “I do not believe for a second that he raped or kidnapped or had a gun, that he put a gun to that woman."
Abston was not charged in the 2021 rape case until after being charged with snatching Eliza Fletcher from a street while she was jogging before dawn near the University of Memphis on Sept. 2, 2022, and forcing her into an SUV. Her body was found days later near a vacant duplex.
Abston was not arrested on the rape charges before Fletcher’s killing because of a long delay in processing the sexual assault kit, authorities have said. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say they will pursue the death penalty if Abston is convicted of first-degree murder in Fletcher's death. No trial date has been set in that case.
The killing of Fletcher, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher and mother of two, shocked the Memphis community and led to a flood of support for her family. Runners in Memphis and several other cities held an early-morning running events in her honor a week after she was abducted. A second run honoring Fletcher was held last year.
Abston, who also has gone by the name Cleotha Henderson, was arrested after police detected his DNA on sandals found near the location where Fletcher was last seen, an arrest affidavit said. An autopsy report showed Fletcher died of a gunshot wound to the head. She also had injuries to her right leg and jaw fractures.
After Fletcher’s death, the Legislature passed a law requiring the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to issue a quarterly report on sexual assault kit testing times.
The rape victim in the 2021 case sued the city of Memphis on allegations that the Memphis Police Department did not properly investigate her case, but the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge.
Cleotha Abston, left, speaks with his lawyer during his sentencing hearing for an April rape conviction on Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. Abston received 80 years in prison for kidnapping and raping a woman in September 2021, a year before he was charged with killing a Memphis school teacher. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
Cleotha Abston walks from the witness stand to his seat in a courtroom during his sentencing hearing for an April rape conviction on Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. Abston received 80 years in prison for kidnapping and raping a woman in September 2021, a year before he was charged with killing a Memphis school teacher. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
