World football body FIFA said on Monday it had reached an out-of-court settlement with former France player Lassana Diarra in a legal dispute over international transfer rules.
FIFA did not specify what the settlement looks like.
Diarra sued FIFA and the Belgian football federation in 2025, asking for €65 million ($75 million) in damages. The case followed a 2024 ruling by the European Court of Justice that certain FIFA transfer rules violate EU law.
Diarra and FIFA have now settled all legal disputes, FIFA announced, but the governing body has neither admitted liability nor made any compensation payment.
The background to the years-long dispute was Diarra's departure in 2014 from Lokomotiv Moscow, despite his contract still being in force.
The club accused the player of breach of contract and contacted FIFA, which then ordered Diarra to pay a penalty of more than €10 million.
Other clubs then refrained from signing him because the FIFA regulations at the time stipulated that a new team would have to pay any penalties.
In its ruling, the ECJ criticized the fact that this restricted the freedom of movement for players guaranteed under EU law.
FIFA subsequently set about revising its rules.
As a result of the case, the organization Justice for Players prepared class action suits against FIFA as well as the national associations in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Denmark and Germany.
The group has said the new FIFA regulations are inadequate and that there is no compensation for players who were wronged in the past.
It was initially unclear what impact FIFA's settlement with Diarra will have.
