Words: John Alegeh // @JohnAlegeh
‘’the founding of the European Union has had a tremendous repercussion on football…’’
The unification of European states started as a political and economic alliance with the intention of improving matters of trade and political relationships between member states. This union which started in 1993 became effective through the charter of Maastricht. It grants free movements of EU citizens within the EU states and also allows unhindered labor movement by its citizens. The charter has further developed with the granting of EU passports and single currency for its political and trading relationships. The founding of the European Union had a tremendous repercussion on football with special reference to the charter’s interpretation of freedom of movement for workers.
Hitherto, there existed a quota system for UEFA Club competitions, which specified the amount of foreign players that could represent a team in every particular match; in most cases, the maximum number was three players per match. What this meant was that players were distinguished based on the country they came from and it restricted the amount of foreign players a team could recruit. Again, before this period, African nations had achieved very little at the global stage (except the little flashes of Cameroon and Algeria, in the FIFA World Cup 1982) and their players had very little recognition and trust in football leagues outside Africa. The ones who thrived were mostly players from the French colonized African nations, who benefited from the French policy of Association and got assimilated into the French system very early in their lives.
Article 39 of the EU Treaty effectively removed this impediment which the quota system created and consequently, clubs now had the opportunity to recruit as many foreign players as they wanted, provided they came from within the EU States. With this barrier broken, movement of EU footballers across the leagues increased. The dismantling of this impediment formed the crux of the football legal dispute which came to be known as the Bosman Ruling. This law emanated as a consequence of the enabling laws of European Unification. Dr. Geoff Pearson’s work titled “The Bosman Case:, EU Law and the Transfer System”, describes this imbroglio.
Roger Mila at his first World Cup with Cameroon in 1982.
Photo Credit: Al Jazeera
The Situation Before Bosman
Before the Bosman case, the situation in European football was very different with regards to player transfers and quotas. Prior to Bosman, a football player could only move to another club with the agreement of both clubs. Usually this agreement was only reached by the setting of a "transfer fee", whereby the buying club actually purchased the player from the selling club. This applied regardless of whether or not the player’s contract with the selling club had ended.
Secondly, prior to the Bosman case, quota systems existed in many national leagues and also in UEFA club competitions. These quota systems meant that only a limited number of foreign players could play in a particular match. For example, in UEFA club competitions, only 3 foreign players (plus 2 ‘assimilated’ foreign players) could play for a team.
Hence, out of contract players were not allowed to sign a contract with a new team until a transfer fee had been paid, or they had been granted a free transfer.
Player transfers from Africa to the diaspora before the Bosman ruling was low, the exceptions coming in the form of a few players from French and Portuguese colonized African states. There was little economic attraction, despite the perennial economic difference between Europe and most African states, which has always tilted in favor of the former.
In Nigeria for example, several renowned players such as Thompson Usiyen, Godwin Odiye and Chibuzor Ehilegbu chose to play in the United States of America, to combine academics with semi-professional football, rather than go to Europe. Other Nigerian stars such as Richard Owobokiri, Sylvanus Okpala and Okey Isima never attracted much attention with their move to Portugal from Nigeria.
The cases of players from Cameroon and Algeria were helped by their exploits in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. In this case, players such as Rabah Madjah, Lakhdar Belloumi, Thomas Nkono and Emmanuel Kunde sparkled for Algeria and Cameroon, and this in turn attracted the attention of European teams. At this point in time, it’s important to remember that football had not been recognized as a professional occupation by most African states.
Algeria vs West Germany at the 1982 World Cup.
Photo Credit: These Football Times
Why Did The Bosman Case Happen?
The Bosman Ruling was born from the plight of a Belgian footballer; Jean Marc Bosman. Bosman’s contract with Belgian club side RFC Liege had expired and he wanted to be transferred to French club Dunkerque. Liege, however, refused to let Bosman leave without the payment of a transfer fee which Dunkerque was unwilling to pay. Bosman claimed that as a European Union citizen, he possessed the right to "freedom of movement" within the European Union if he wished to find work (then Article 48 of the Treaty of Rome - now Art. 39 of the EU Treaty).
The transfer system prevented him exercising his right to freedom of movement and Bosman argued that the system should be changed so that players who were out of contract with their club could move to another club without the paying of a transfer fee.The case was heard at the European Court of Justice, and the court found in favor of Bosman and against RFC Liege, the Belgium Football Association and UEFA. There were two important decisions:
1. Transfer fees for out-of-contract players were illegal where a player was moving between one E.U. nation and another. From now on only players still serving contracts with their teams could have transfer fees paid for them.
2. Quota systems were also held to be illegal. Club sides are now able to play as many foreigners from other European Union states as they liked (although limits on players from outside the E.U. could still be imposed.
Jean-Marc Bosman (left) had a significant impact on the history and (at the time) future of football.
Photo Credit: SoFoot
The Implications Of The Bosman Case
The implications of the Bosman case are far-reaching for football across Europe (and other parts of the World), and are still felt to this day. Clubs now need to commit to signing players for longer contracts than before; otherwise they risk losing their players on free transfers. Unfortunately, smaller clubs cannot afford to sign longer contracts with players (especially young players) who may not fulfil their potential. Therefore, the best players at smaller clubs will usually move to a bigger club on a free transfer upon the expiration of their contract.
The money small clubs used to make from transfer fees is rapidly drying up because a buying club will wait to sign out of contract players. In the long run, the Bosman case may well lead to smaller clubs either going to the wall or being forced to turn amateur, as this disparity continues to grow. Secondly, the Bosman case has worked to the players' benefit. Because out of contract players are so sought after, the players can demand higher wages, and move to the club that offers the best wages. In effect, the Bosman case has increased ‘player power’ considerably. Now, as in all other industries, the best employees will have control over their own career, and will be able to demand wages that many would argue reflect their skills.
This case was decided on 15th December 1995, and the implication on African football, was overwhelming. The works of Dr. Pearson (University of Liverpool, FIG Factsheet, https://www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/bosman.thml,)(excerpt above) and Rafaelle Poli ('Africans' Status in the European Football Players' Labour Market’, Soccer & Society,7:2,278 —291) acknowledges that the court decision gave footballers stronger bargaining power, ultimately increasing their salaries and stifling the opportunities of smaller clubs to retain any player longer than he wanted to stay. The Bosman Ruling democratized player’s labor rights against the stringent control by clubs. With the superior organization, business acumen, sports passion and economies of most European states, global attention focused on and began centralising in the European football leagues. Talented players from other continents (Ronaldo Nazario-Brazil(South America), George Opong Weah-Liberia(Africa), Ali Daiei- Saudi Arabia(Asia), Gary Cahill(Australia), Kasey Keller-U.S.A etc. were lured to Europe to better their professional careers.
Some of the greatest benefactors of these developments were the desperate African players whose remuneration within their local market was a pittance compared to what they would be offered in any European League; even the small European clubs who ultimately created an alternative revenue stream to enhance their survival in the volatile football market. This was a direct consequence of the situation which the new Bosman law had created. For the small European clubs, the worthiness of the risk for talented African players was to ensure their competitive survival in the face of the advantages which larger and richer clubs had over following the Bosman Ruling. Faced with the challenging nature of most African economies, the opportunity to improve their career and secure their financial futures, most African players would hardly refuse the carrot thrown at them by the European agents and managers.
Thirty one years after the European Unification and the institution of the Bosman Law, the following tweet from the handle of Nigerian football journalist, Oma Akatugha, (@omaakatugha) gives a bare description of the situation of a Nigerian player and the allure of better remuneration, even from a football league as far afield as Afghanistan.
For context, 1 Euro is the equivalent of NGN 1700 (as of January 2025). This is huge money for any footballer playing locally in Nigeria and for this particular player, playing in Afghanistan is much more lucrative than playing in the Nigerian Professional Football League.
With the quota system for EU clubs declared illegal and the fact that other non-EU players competing for the foreigners’ quota could acquire EU citizenship through association or naturalisation laws in colonial states (thus becoming excluded from counting under the quota system rule for foreign players), the appeal for African players increased. Like Poli’s work has articulated elsewhere, the dispersal of African players is greater within smaller European leagues, largely because they first used this market as a speculative means of remaining in business. By going for cheap labor which was somewhat risk-averse from a business perspective, any risk involved would pay-off by players being talented enough to perform for the club and in turn secure transfer fees. While clubs benefited from this, the African players who succeeded came out better. Even twenty years after the EU Unification, the survival strategies of several small European clubs continued. African players such as Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane, Victor Osimhen, Yaya and Kolo Toure were brought into European football as mitigated risks, despite their exuding talents. When their talents attracted bigger clubs, the risks on them paid off for their agents and small clubs who brought them into Europe.
Sadio Mané during his time at Metz, the first European club he played for.
Photo Credit: Let’s Go Metz
From a cultural perspective the success of an African player would positively impact an entire clan, taking into regard the close-knit family structure of most African societies. In most cases their economic success would affect their paternal and maternal relatives, including their entire community. The stories of Sadio Mane’s community work in Senegal affirms this. I can also draw attention to the the growth of the automobile business in Benin City, Nigeria (popularly called Tokunbo cars), as a consequence of the activities of the early Belgium-based Nigerian footballers, some of whose family roots can be traced to this town. Most of them moved funds from their newly found wealth by purchasing cheap used cars in Belgium, exporting them back to Nigeria and reselling them for far higher prices.
Apart from better remuneration, African players and nations benefited from better organized football systems in Europe, improved football coaching techniques and a higher standard of teammate and opponent. This positively impacted Africa footballers, as it improved their technical capabilities and knowledge base.
Since the enactment of the Bosman Ruling, virtually all African nations participating in the Confederation of African Football Nations Cup have their national teams filled with players based outside Africa. This situation has grown to the extent that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has instituted a home based African Nations Cup, for only players based in Africa. This competition was founded with the primary aim of giving better opportunity and exposure to African-based footballers.
Whilst Poli describes this pattern of development which positively impacted African football as dependent development, he goes further to acknowledge that this relationship is in synergy with the economic association between the North and South. While this assertion appears evidently true, the movement of players from developed economies such as Australia, Japan, South Korea, the United States and Oil Rich Arab States to European leagues somewhat disproves the dependent development theory. The desire for career accomplishments makes the appeal of European football inevitable for most ambitious footballers. It is obvious that Europe has the most organized leagues, competitions and clubs with rich history and financial power; that most ambitious footballers would want a slice of this is only natural.
The founding of the European Union significantly changed labor laws in Europe and threw open the door for opportunities for African footballers to easily showcase their qualities as professional footballers to the rest of the world. It remains an enduring handshake for African footballers to accept and by this gesture helps them to become better players by daily competing with the best footballers in the world. This has impacted their national teams as was affirmed by Morocco’s performance in the 2022 FIFA World cup at Qatar. As an outcome of this, (as in other parts of the world), several African nations have legally recognized football as a professional occupation in their countries and instituted laws to guide its operation.
References
Pearson, G. (Phd). The Bosman Case, EU Law & The Transfer System.
2. Pearson, G.(Phd) (University of Liverpool FIG Fact sheet) - www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/bosman.html
3. Poli, Rafaelle(2006)'Africans' Status in the European Football Players' Labour Market,’ Soccer & Society,7:2,278 —291.
4. John Anakhuagbor Alegeh. An Analytical Study Of Nigeria's Football Development: 1959 -2009.
