Let us tell you the story of a player who changed the fate and working conditions of football players in Europe... Jean-Marc Bosman won a case that would change the history of football...
The decision of the "European Court of Justice" in 1995 destroyed the transfer rules that European football had been used to until then. Based on universal human rights, the Court of Justice introduced the Bosman rule, which allows football players whose contracts have expired in their current team to be transferred to another team without a transfer fee, allowing the football player to have a say in his own future. The name of the football player who made that decision was Jean-Marc Bosman, and thanks to him, the fate of many football players, from Robert Lewandowski to Wilfred Zaha, changed...
Let us tell you the story of an athlete who changed the fate and working conditions of football players in Europe...
Jean-Marc Bosman (born 30 October 1964) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. His judicial challenge of the football transfer rules led to the Bosman ruling in 1995.
Jean-Marc Bosman was born in Belgium on October 30, 1964. He started his football career in Standard de Liege in 1983 and played for RFC Liège, one of the Belgian 1st League teams, between 1988-90. According to what was written, he was a midfielder good enough to earn his living from football. In those years, when he was promoted to the Belgian youth national team, he played in the first 11 of his team, but he could not earn enough money. Nearing the end of his contract, he negotiated with his club and was offered 750 Euros per month for a 1-year contract. The football player, who did not accept this figure, started looking for a club that would give him more money...
His contract with his team expired in the summer of 1990, and he responded positively to the transfer offer he received from Dunkerque, one of the French 2nd League teams. However, the Liege club demanded a transfer fee for this transfer to take place, and the Dunkerque club insisted on not paying the requested money. Ultimately, this transfer did not happen, and the football player's salary dropped to 750 Euros per month because he was not in the starting eleven. Bosman, who did not accept this situation, took the issue to the Liege courts and filed a lawsuit against the Liege club, the Belgian Football Federation, and UEFA. The case was based on the "restraint of trade" and questioned the validity of the transfer system in Europe. The local court, emphasizing that the football player was right about the case, ruled in his favor and referred the case to a higher court, the European Court of Justice. The case was discussed once again at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. On December 15, 1995, a decision was made that would turn the transfer system in football upside down. According to the decision, it was emphasized that football is an economic sector today and that there is no legal basis for preventing the transfer of football players with restrictions such as transfer fees after the end of their contracts, and it recognized the right to be released at the end of the contract.
Jean-Marc Bosman won the case that would change football history...
However, things did not go as expected for the football player. He completed his legal process, which he started at the age of 26, at the age of 31. While the case was ongoing, he continued his football life in the lower leagues of Belgium and tried his luck on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion for a short time. Towards the end of his football career, Belgian team Charleroi included him in their squad. However, due to what happened in the past, clubs saw him in the "high risk" category: Football's problem child! Which club would want to see a football player who fought for his rights at the court gates in their squad?
Bosman, who played for the team for a period of £650 a month, separated from his wife due to financial problems. When he could not pay the rent of his house in Charleroi, he started living in the garage of his family's house. The general belief among football fans was that he earned a lot of money at the end of the case and owned houses and luxury cars. However, he invested his entire fortune in the production of t-shirts called "Who's the Boz", which summarized his cause, but he could not make money from that investment and made a loss. Over time, he fell into poverty, became addicted to alcohol, and became estranged from his family. During times of loneliness and depression, he received alcohol treatment for a while. When he got out of the hospital, he said that his biggest victory was not the Bosman rule, but overcoming alcoholism...
Today, Jean-Marc Bosman is trying to survive with the 720 Euro monthly salary given by the state. “I am probably the most important football player Belgium has produced, but no one knows me!” The sentence describes it. He continues: “In fact, the rule benefited the rich clubs, while they added the players they wanted to their squads for astronomical fees, the small clubs always lost. As a result, the gap between the main boys and the others gradually widened. "That wasn't actually the goal." The thing that saddens him the most is the death of his black Labrador dog, with whom he spent the most difficult times and whom he called "Freedom Fighter". “He was my most loyal friend who never left me, I miss him very much,” he says. In short, the man who revolutionized football paved the way for future football generations, and enabled the football players of the time to have fortunes they could not dream of in the past is trying to hold on to life in poverty...