The complaint of seven former professional players against the UNFP and the Panini stickers was dismissed. Among them, Jimmy Briand and Fabrice Pancrate denounced illegal use of their image and filed a complaint for fraud and active corruption of a private agent.
A complaint from seven former professional players against the UNFP (players’ union) and Panini France for the marketing, according to them of fraud, of the famous stickers with their photo was filed at the beginning of November, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday. “The prosecution closed this procedure on November 4, on the grounds that no criminal offense appeared. This dispute had already been brought to civil court.said the public prosecutor.
These seven former players had launched a new stage in an old dispute, by filing a complaint at the beginning of September in Paris for fraud and active corruption of a private agent against the National Union of Professional Footballers and against the subsidiary of the Italian group Panini. The players, including former French international and Rennes player Jimmy Briand and former Parisian striker Fabrice Pancrate, considered the use in the famous vignettes of their image, the rights to which were transferred by their union, the UNFP, to a commercial subsidiary, then to Panini France. “Unsurprisingly, this simple complaint was dismissed as in over 80% of cases. A complaint with the constitution of a civil party is in the process of being regularized”their lawyers, Me Elie Dottelonde and Laure Diu-Lambrechts, reacted on Tuesday.
A first conviction in mid-May
In their complaint, the players also denounced a “opacity of financial flows and links” between the boss of the UNFP since 1969, Philippe Piat, and that of Panini France since 1979, Alain Guerrini. They “are associated in multiple companies and Philippe Piat shows unfailing support for his friend by using his position within French professional football to facilitate his access to key positions”further affirmed the parties represented in the document.
The dispute between these players and the UNFP and Panini France has already been the subject of civil proceedings. In mid-May, the Paris court ordered the two companies to pay damages to four football players playing or having played in Ligue 1 or 2, including one of the criminal plaintiffs.
The court ruled that the UNFP did not provide proof that its commercial subsidiary, linked by a contract with Panini, held the rights to the players’ images. Me Elie Dottelonde told AFP that he had appealed this decision in view of “insignificant amounts” granted by the courts to its clients.
