Fifa ruling referred to top European Court

The case taken against Fifa by Belgian first division club Charleroi and the G14, representing 18 of world's richest clubs, has been referred to Europe's highest court.

Charleroi and the G14 will have to take their case, in which they are seeking compensation for a player injured while playing for his country, to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, a Belgian court ruled today.

"The European Court of Justice is the only court that can sufficiently decide this case, taking everything into account," Jean-Philippe Lebeau, president of the commercial tribunal in the city of Charleroi, south of Brussels, said in the ruling.

A spokesman for the G14 said afterwards that it was "very happy" with the decision.

The last major case in football to be referred to the ECJ also began in Belgium.

The "Bosman ruling" was named after the landmark case brought by Jean-Marc Bosman, which ended with players being given the choice to move freely between clubs when out of contract and increased player power enormously.

Speaking on the decision this afternoon FAI chief executive John Delaney said that the ruling was encouraging but national associations are not out of the woods yet.

"While it is encouraging that the court in Belgium has ruled against Fifa in relation to the payment for release of club players while on international duty, national associations like the FAI are still under real threat should the final outcome rule against the sport's governing body," said Delaney.

"We're pleased that the referral gives the opportunity to make a strong case against payment for players while on international duty," he added. "Now is the time to accelerate our programme of lobbying with MEP's and Commission officials which has been very active over the past two months.

"In our view, the fact that the case hasn't gone away means the potential massive threat to the grass roots of the game if national associations were forced to pay big clubs for international players remains."