History knows several cases when the consequences of an ordinary person’s act change the long-established order of things. Among these extraordinary personalities is Jean-Marc Bosman. Today, few can remember how he was a player. However, in the world of football, everyone has heard of the Bosman case.
Beginning of a professional biography
One of the reasons for the trial, known as the Bosman case, is the fate of a football player, or rather, the vicissitudes of his career in European clubs.
Imagine the biography of the athlete in a nutshell. So, Jean-Marc Bosman was born in 1964 in Liege. He began his “adult” football career in 1983 in one of the FCs of his native city, in “Standard”. In this club he spent 5 seasons, taking part in 86 matches. His performances during this period can hardly be called successful, as Bosman scored only 3 goals. Nevertheless, together with his club in the 1985/86 season, the footballer took third place in the Belgian championship, and in 1984 and 1988 became the finalist of the Belgian Cup. In parallel, he was a member of the youth team of this country and its captain.
Conflict
In 1988, Jean-Marc Bosman acquired the Liège club, which paid £ 66,000 for it. A contract was signed with him with a salary of 120,000 Belgian francs for a period of 2 years. When they expired, the footballer wanted to go to the Dunkirk club. This French club offered him a contract for 1 year and with a salary of 100,000 Belgian francs. However, FC Liège proposed extending the contract with a salary reduction of 60%, and later by 75%, that is, with a minimum remuneration for the Belgian championship for that period of time. It was completely legal and was in accordance with the law in force in European football. Bosman refused. Then FC Liège put the player on the transfer, requesting for his transfer 11 743 million Belgian francs, that is, about 1 million dollars.
Bosman Case: Essence
In August 1990, Jean-Marc decided to hire a lawyer and try to defend his rights in court. An unknown beginner lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont undertook to defend the interests of the football player. Together with the latter, he wished to change the legislation, according to which the club received money for the transfer of a football player, having a completed contract. After some time, Bosman's requirements changed and affected the situation with transfers in club football in general. They also touched on the UEFA quotas, according to which the club could apply for the game no more than 3 foreign players + 2, who played in a particular country for more than 5 years.
At first, FIFA and UEFA considered the Bosman case to be frivolous, as they were confident in the invincibility of their system. Later, their representatives even offered compensation to the player.
Case outcome
The verdict was issued on December 15, 1995. All sports newspapers immediately featured articles about the Bosman case. The text of the judgment was a 29-page document. It was published in the European Community Court in Luxembourg. Thirteen members of this important EU body agreed that paying for players whose contracts have expired, as well as limiting the number of legionnaires who come from the EU and are allowed to be on the field at the same time, contradicts Article 48 of the Rome Treaty, declaring freedom of movement of labor within the EU .
The case of Simutenkov
According to the Court’s verdict, “foreign” players falling under the “3 + 2” rule were considered only citizens of non-EU countries. Later, this football requirement was revised. The reason was the case of Simutenkov. The defendant was the Ministry of Education and Culture, as well as the Football Federation of Spain.
Russian footballer Igor Simutenkov played for the Tenerife club, in which there were several other legionnaires besides him. Due to the “3 + 2” rule, he rarely appeared on the field. Then the footballer and his lawyers decided that this situation contradicts the agreement signed between the EU and the Russian Federation, according to which discrimination against Russians who legally work in any country of the European Union is prohibited.
In 2005, an EU court issued a verdict in favor of Simutenkov, which allowed the Russians to play in European FCs without falling under the “3 + 2” rule.
Bosman Case: Implications
The victory in the court of the former midfielder “Liege” brought benefits primarily to the players. Their salaries have since increased substantially, and have been growing to this day, although many of them do not even know to whom they owe their multi-million dollar contracts. However, after a verdict in the Bosman case, children's sports schools involved in the training of future leather ball masters were hit. Initially, it was obvious that it was cheaper and more profitable for clubs to buy “ready-made” successful foreign players than to grow their own. What do we see as a result? Take Arsenal as an example. It has not been surprising anyone for a long time when this club announces the main team of 10-11 legionnaires for the game. The situation at Chelsea is no better. Other European clubs, which rushed in pursuit of profit, are not far behind them. If the Bosman case increased the income of some clubs, others, on the contrary, were outsiders. In particular, the Dutch Ajax, which traditionally lived off the proceeds from the sale of its pupils, was seriously affected. There were clubs that went broke. For example, such is the fate of one of the most famous Belgian clubs - Antwerp.
In addition, the Bosman judgment exploded the transfer market. Since the publication of the European Court verdict, clubs have to take care in advance not to lose the football player without receiving substantial compensation for him.
What got Bosman
While the trial was ongoing, the footballer was unemployed. Players supporting the colleague of the Dutch and Belgian clubs raised $ 70,000 for him. Everyone was sure that in the event of the successful completion of the lawsuit, Bosman would get rich, since the total amount of the lawsuit against Liège, the Belgian Football Federation and UEFA amounted to more than ten million. However, in reality, Bosman received only $ 500,000 in compensation in his lawsuits. At the same time, most of this amount went to pay for the services of lawyers and debts accumulated by a football player during forced unemployment. For another 3 years, Bosman had to wait until the Belgian Football Federation paid him the money due.
Further career
Despite the positive verdict in the Bosman case, this football player could no longer find such an authoritative club that would want to conclude a contract with him. Subsequently, he played for the little-known teams of the Belgian and French lower divisions, such as Olympic, Saint-Denis (regional league), Olympic (Charleroi), Vise club in the amateur league of the Belgian championship.
What is the issue with the limit of legionnaires today
Although Bosman’s case in football has revolutionized, over time, many countries have tried to strike a balance between their “own” and “alien” players. In particular, in Portugal, although there are no quotas, it is necessary to have 8 pupils in a team. A similar rule applies in Belgium, where it is required to indicate in the application for the match 6 young men who are pupils of Belgian sports schools.
Very strictly relate to the legionnaires in Spain and France. So, in La Liga it is forbidden to let out 3 football players without EU citizenship at the same time on the field, and 4 in France.
Troubles in personal life
Before the start of his career, Bosman was married and had a daughter. However, after the refusal of FC Liège to sell the player, the athlete was left without a livelihood. He even had nothing to pay for the apartment. As often happens in such situations, the spouse announced her desire to divorce. Then Bosman left with them everything he had with his daughter, and moved to his parents. In order not to embarrass his father and mother, he spent the night in the garage. So the footballer lived for almost 2.5 years, during which he fought with the system almost single-handedly.
Career Jean-Louis Dupont
The young lawyer, who took up the almost hopeless case of an individual athlete who intended to change the system of world football, made a career on it. After the victory of his client, he became a famous and sought after lawyer who did not know the lack of wealthy clients.
Epilogue
During his few recent interviews, Bosman said he supported UEFA's intention to impose a limit on foreign legionnaires. At the same time, he believes that the system should be changed so that players are required to play for their first club for a specific period of time.
Now you know what the Bosman case was. 20 years ago, this football player completed his not-so-successful career in club football. However, today everyone who is related to this sport knows his name.