Uefa says it has won at the European Union’s supreme court after a legal challenge to financial fair play rules that curb club spending was thrown out.
Uefa says the European Union’s court of justice ruled a Belgian court’s request for a preliminary judgment was “manifestly inadmissible”.
The case went through a local Brussels court after the European Commission decided it had no merit.
The case was brought by the player’s agent Daniel Striani in Belgium and fan groups linked to Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. Uefa fined both clubs €20m (£14m) in 2014 for breaking FFP rules.
They argued that FFP protects elite clubs, and were represented by the lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont. He helped win the landmark Bosman case on the contractual freedom of players 20 years ago.