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Lyon have officially declared their intention to take FIFA to court over the injury left-back Eric Abidal sustained while on international duty.
They will be joined in their legal action by G14 – the group of Europe's 18 biggest clubs – and G14 general director Thomas Kurth was present alongside Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas for today's press conference.
Together, they intend to attack FIFA's "abuse of power, linked to the rule forcing clubs to release players for international duty without compensation and without taking responsibility for insurance costs."
"G14 have been planning to challenge this anomaly for a long time, so that's why this will be a joint action," explained Aulas.
Unlike Charleroi, the Belgian club who chose the commercial courts to rule on a similar incident involving Moroccan player Abdelmajid Oulmers, Lyon intend to drag FIFA through the Tribunal de Grande Instance (TGI), the French equivalent of the High Court.
Lyon are the first European side to take action on a problem that has been causing increasing friction between clubs and countries, and success for them would trigger an avalanche of similar legal cases by other clubs.
Abidal, the man whose injury kicked off the whole process, is expected to be sidelined for another two-and-a-half months after breaking a metatarsal bone in his left foot during France's friendly with Costa Rica in Martinique last month.
His club opposed the fixture when it was announced, complaining that it would be the seventh match he and his Lyon teammates contested in the space of 22 days.
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