Re: Fifpro vs FIFA

by Art Morte Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:44 pm

I'm a little confused now, because the BBC's report on the matter doesn't suggest that transfer fees would be abolished:

The players' union wants four key changes made to the rules:

Any player not paid by their club for more than 30 days can terminate their contract providing they have given the club at least 10 days' written notice.

If a contract is terminated by the club without just cause or by the player for non-payment, the player should be compensated by having the contract paid out by the club.

Any player without a contract after the process above should be able to find work immediately, without having to wait for a transfer window to open.

These reforms should apply domestically and internationally.

...

As things stand, a player cannot cancel their contract until 90 days of non-payment have passed, and must then take their case to Fifa's Dispute Resolution Chamber. They will most likely win, but not until months later (due to the backlog caused by 4,000 such disputes a year), during which time their career will be in limbo.

If a player breaches their contract, on the other hand, they are banned from playing for 120 days and must compensate the club to the tune of their "market value".

Fifpro considers this, and transfer fees in general, to be a tax on employment, which if taken to its logical conclusion means the entire system is a restraint of trade that no other EU worker would tolerate.

The four points sound perfectly reasonable. The Guardian piece suggested this legal case is also about abolishing transfer fees. The BBC article mentions that Fifpro is against the fees, but doesn't make it sound like they're part of the legal case. I'm confused.

by rwo power Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:51 pm

Hm. Okay, this non-payment thing is indeed perfectly reasonable. I guess one needs to wait for the exact wording of the complaint before one should go ballistic about possible ramifications. ^^

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:53 pm

rwo power wrote:
Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:While I like the ideas it will never happen as it threatens the status quo and bring back competition but clubs don't want that.
I doubt that the European Commission or whichever court they drag this before will bother about any status quo of the football world. They will put out a legislation as they deem fit, and for some reason I have the feeling this might not be fully thought through by the FIFpro guys either, and the results of that ruling could very well backfire greatly. (And if not for the current generation of players, then likely for those who come after them as it is questionable if the smaller clubs will put as much effort into the education of new kids if they won't have any gain from it.)

As much as i'd like to believe that, seems to me that the clubs have a lot more power than that. That's another problem at times it almost seems like the top clubs are above the law.

I could be paranoid Laughing