The National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) filed a complaint against X on Tuesday in Paris, accusing clubs of moral harassment and extortion that deliberately sideline some players in "lofts", the union's lawyers told AFP.
According to the complaint, seen by AFP, these clubs impose "brutal isolation and multiple pressures" on players to extend their contracts or accept a transfer - a way of separating themselves from them by ensuring that they receive compensation. The union accuses the international federation (Fifa) of participating in this "extortion" by imposing "a framework" that places the employer club "in a dominant position".
A player is bound to his club by a fixed-term contract. If the transfer is made before the end of the contract, the club receives severance pay from the player's new club, which is not the case if the player has completed his contract before changing.
During the transfer period, some clubs place the players they want to part with in a so-called "loft" reserve, a kind of shelving adapted to the pitch: no more training sessions with the professional group, no more travel or matches...
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The club "prevents" the player from carrying out "his professional activity under normal conditions", and this player can therefore no longer "envisage executing his contract until its end", the complaint summarises. The player who wants to return to the competition will therefore leave the club or, conversely, extend his contract.
These practices, which are "very widespread" constitute "criminal offences", said UNFP lawyers Julia Minkowski and Léon del Forno in a statement sent to AFP. Exerting "moral coercion" to induce a person "to consent to sign or terminate a contract constitutes the tort of extortion," they said.
"Repeated actions by an employer" that result in "a deterioration in working conditions likely to infringe the employee's rights or compromise his or her professional future" constitute harassment, they continue.
The UNFP supports its complaint with a list of about fifty players who were placed in lofts but who were not involved in the preparation of this complaint. Among them, world champion Kylian Mbappé at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), who notably did not play a match with his club from June 19 to August 19, 2023.
"Few" players, however, have attacked their clubs for fear of "reprisals", the union said. Among those exceptions is former international goalkeeper Stéphane Ruffier. Coincidentally, on Monday, the latter obtained the condemnation of AS Saint-Etienne, which must pay him 850,000 euros in compensation.