The international soccer player union would like to end the 125-year-old tradition of clubs acquiring talent from other clubs via transfer fees.

FIFPro is willing to fund hundreds of thousands of Euros in legal fees if a player agrees to challenge the rules of a $4 billion per year market.

The union has also started lobbying European Union officials to abolish the system, which it says gives athletes less freedom of movement than other workers, said the person, who declined to be identified because talks are confidential.

Philippe Piat, president of Hoofddorp, Netherlands-based FIFPro, said in 2013 that the transfer system -- which dates back to English soccer in 1890 to compensate clubs who lose players to richer rivals -- “fails 99 percent of players.”