- The Lucas Ribeiro Costa labour rights dispute highlights the imbalance of power between clubs and players, reframing football contracts as labour law matters.
- FIFA’s private law and transfer systems are under pressure to align with international employment standards and human rights frameworks.
- The Justice for Players class action, led by Jean-Louis Du Pont, could trigger systemic reform benefiting players globally and redefining club obligations.
It appears that lawyers, pundits and fans are not clearly understanding the legal issues involved in the case. This also entails another dispute that Sundowns has with Khuliso Mudau.
While the legal dispute mainly involves contractual issues at the surface, they are essentially a labour law matter. In the main, the contract between parties is acknowledged, but the concern is how Sundowns (employer) treats the other party (Ribeiro as an employee) during the contract.
The view is that clubs cannot withhold International Transfer Certificates (ITC, in case of international players) or ordinary clearances (local players), even while there is a dispute. Instead, players (as prescribed in the constitution, LRA and other legal prescripts, including ILO Conventions and human rights Treaties) have a right to gainful employment, i.e., moving to a new club, while the dispute or money issues are being resolved.
Thus, the matter is not necessarily about either Mamelodi Sundowns or Ribeiro being in the wrong or right, but the recognition of player labour/rights is at the centre of the dispute. Also, FIFA's private law is under pressure to reform. That is where the Justice for Players class action suit in Europe comes in.
FIFA’s reckoning and the ripple effect
Led by the lawyer who spearheaded the Bosman case in 1995, Jean-Louis Du Pont (now Riberio's lawyer), the class action seeks to optimise EU law and institutions (EUCJ) that treat employment law contracts as a special category, fundamentally different from ordinary commercial contracts.
Under European law, employment contracts are not seen as a simple agreement between equals, operating on the principle that there is an imbalance of power between the employer and the employee, with the employee being the weaker party. Because of this, EU employment law provides a wide range of statutory protections for workers.
These protections, which limit the "freedom of contract" for employers, are designed to ensure fair treatment, minimum standards and fundamental rights that are not present in commercial contracts. EUCJ jurisprudence, as illustrated by cases such as Bosman (1995) and Diarra (2024), demonstrates how EU law prioritises the rights of workers, even over established commercial practices.
With this background, I have demonstrated that the contractual dispute is not even the issue at hand. But the crafting of contracts could be an issue: I suppose there is a clause or undertaking that promised Riberio that he could leave if a better offer came. When that time arrives, teams use their massive power to renege on the promise.
Furthermore, FIFA is currently being forced to realise that employment contracts are not the same as other contracts. During a dispute, the club can't hold the ITC to prevent the player from moving to a new club (gainful employment).
In the main, as already stated, the struggle is about shifting player recognition in clubs' financial books from current assets to personnel. After all, they are workers with rights, and FIFA will be forced to amend its RSTP. Its advisers, like Deloitte, will also be compelled to re-examine the IFRS/GAAP standards that do not recognise players as human resources in the balance sheet.
Beyond Riberio: A movement for all players
Like the Bosman ruling, the class action sponsors hope that it will have a ripple effect, which will necessitate FIFA to change its private law, and this will cascade down to national associations and leagues. The outcome will not benefit Ribeiro alone but many other players in a similar situation: Aleksander Isak (Newcastle FC, England), Khuliso Mudau and Monnapule Saleng. Clubs and their chairmen must be tamed and forced to respect the labour rights of workers.
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