It’s been over a year since Lionel Messi exited FC Barcelona last August to join Paris Saint-Germain, but one group of supporters isn’t letting the move to the French capital go.
The Guardian’s Jonathan Wilson reported Tuesday that a group of Barcelona supporters took legal action to argue that the 35-year-old’s move from Catalonia to the French capital broke European state aid laws and called for the European Commission to examine the transfer.
The court session in Luxembourg lasted three hours before Judge Marc Jaeger, with a verdict believed to be coming within two months. Messi left Barcelona in August 2021 on a free transfer and signed a contract reportedly worth £94 million over three years.
When arguing for their case, the Barcelone supporters state that the French football authorities should never have allowed the Messi transfer to go through. Additionally, they say that the transfer distorted the competitive environment in continental football.
Overturning the Messi transfer isn’t the only plate on the Barcelona supporters’ plan, as they are also hoping to bring the world of football finance out from the game’s governing bodies and into the area of Europe’s lawmakers for the first time.
In the full claim provided by the court, the group states that they want to “order the French Football Federation to immediately cease any … distortion of competition and to bring itself into compliance with Uefa club licensing and financial fair play regulations.”
Furthermore, the group calls on the commission to initiate proceedings against the French government for “illegal state aid to PSG and the French football clubs in national and European competitions.”
It will be interesting to see where this claim in the court system goes, as there should be a ruling on Messi’s transfer to PSG by the end of the year to determine whether the judge will toss out the case or it has some legs.
