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Class action lawsuit against Bradley, Yedlin, Dempsey dismissed

A class-action lawsuit brought forth by three American youth clubs was dismissed by the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division. The suit was filed by the Chicago Sockers, Dallas Texans and Crossfire Premier on the question of if youth clubs can collect training fees for its players that turned into professionals.

The court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction over the MLSPU and the players involved.

FIFA’s Regulations and on the Status and Transfer of Players allows clubs to collect training compensation and solidarity fees, but U.S. Soccer has forbidden those payments citing that the RSTP could result in a restraint of trade, which will trigger a violation of U.S. anti-trust law.

The players mentioned in the suit were Michael Bradley, DeAndre Yedlin and Clint Dempsey, each played for one of the clubs involved in the court case. The trio of clubs have also taken their case to FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber, but no decision has been reached in that spectrum yet.

 

Comments

  1. From my 12 years of coaching youth soccer, I am pretty convinced that is the player’s parents that matter most. Whether that means finding and paying the best teams/trainers or finding the best club that will take the player on for free, or whatever the parent can pay does not matter. In a country as spread out as the US, parents need to be involved at least as a taxi driver.

    There are some coaches (I was one of them) who would pick up players for practices and games because either their parents could not or were absent. Most of those players did not pay or did not pay much to be on the team. (I did manage to get them to do some fund-raising for away tournaments since the cost of hotels and meals for 4 or 5 players was a bit more than I could handle.)

    Some of the players were successful later on, some not so much. If any had become a successful MLS player (not totally beyond the pale), should I or the club get any remuneration?

    Bob Bradley coached in the same club (before MLS). Should MLS clubs that signed those players, who went on later to play in MLS, owe the club or Bradley or the colleges they attended anything ?

    Reply
  2. Rob,

    The court dismissed the action for lack of jurisdiction — in other words, the court did not even look at the merits of the case. It was merely a procedural issue. The court basically said “we have no authority to decide this case.”

    I’d assume the case will be refiled in the appropriate jurisdiction, and that court will hear the case.

    A little research goes a long way.

    Reply
    • Edit* Rob, I misread your comment. I thought you were siding with the club. That being said, what I said still stands. This case is far from over. SBI could do its readers some justice by doing a little research. Headline is a bit misleading.

      Reply
  3. So, the parents pay tens of thousands of dollars for their kids training and when they make it to pros (despite receiving training that’s more detrimental than beneficial for their development) the clubs want a piece of the action?
    Laughable.

    Reply
    • Outside of the US, clubs pay for player development. In the US, it is PAY TO PLAY.

      Why do US youth clubs seem so entitled to collect on these fees from professional clubs
      when they didn’t spend a dime to cover player development? Greed.

      Reply

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