Lassana Diarra, a former French international midfielder, used to play for clubs such as Chelsea, Arsenal and Portsmouth during his playing career. Diarra has faced a lot of difficulties during his playing career and has been involved in a long battle with the governing body of World Football which is FIFA. Diarra is still fighting for his rights and claims compensation for all the sufferings he has had to face.
The 40-year-old challenged some of the rules which are set by FIFA following the termination of his contract with the Russian team Lokomotiv Moscow and FIFA asked the French international to pay a compensation of £8.4m for his actions. The Court of Justice of the European Union came to know in October that some of the rules of the player transfer made by FIFA do not adhere to the European Union Laws.
I am doing this for myself - but I have also done it for all the up-and-coming”: Lassana Diarra
The CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union) claimed that by refusing the player to make a legal move to his preferred destination which was the Belgian club Charleroi in 2015, FIFA was trying to interfere in the free movement of professional players who are willing to develop their career progress by going to play for a new team. FIFA made some changes to their policies following the orders given by the CJEU. However, Diarra was unhappy with the reforms and stated that the changes imposed by FIFA do not comply with the strict regulations given by the CJEU.
Regarding his long-fought battle with the governing body of world football, Diarra stated in a joint media release that, "I am doing this for myself - but I have also done it for all the up-and-coming, lesser-known players who do not have the financial and psychological means to challenge Fifa before real judges. I have been forced to fight this legal battle since August 2014. That's more than 11 years.”
