Jean-Marc Bosman was a footballer who gives his name to this legal measure in force since 1995 and which allows players to leave without a transfer fee at the end of their contract. He also removed restrictions on national leagues to have larger numbers of local players.
The former Belgian playmaker ended his contract with RFC Liège in 1990 and reached an agreement with US Dunkerque to play for them. However, the Belgian discipline only accepted the transfer of one season plus the payment of 11,743,000 Belgian francs (just under 11.5 million euros) at the end of the course. The French refused to accept it and the footballer sued his former club.
Bosman went to the Belgian Football Federation, UEFA and FIFA alleging that the regulations regarding transfers were preventing him from changing teams when there was no contract binding him. While the three bodies did not make a decision, he played for US Dunkirk, Saint-Denis FC, Olympic Charleroi and CS Visé. It was during his time at the latter club, where he hung up his boots in July 1996, that the decision was made.
The Court of Justice of the European Communities ruled on December 15, 1995 that Jean-Marc Bosman and US Dunkerque should not pay any type of compensation to RFC Liège for deciding to join their paths once the previous contract ended. In addition, the approval of the Bosman Law also allowed players to be able to negotiate their next destination six months beforehand. Thanks to this we see agreements that are closed from the month of January in footballers who will be free.
This has helped to see team changes without transfer cost on a regular basis in the last 27 years. Some of the most prominent have been those of Lionel Messi (Paris Saint Germain in 2021), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain in 2021), David Alaba (Real Madrid in 2021), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern München in 2014) or Memphis Depay ( FC Barcelona in 2021), among many others.
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