The union is filing a complaint with the European Commission that would bring an end to transfer fees and make it easier for players to move clubs, after previous negotiations with Federation Internationale de Football Association and UEFA over a transfer system that would better protect players collapsed. It argues that the transfer system, in which players are traded by clubs for fees that can reach tens of millions of euros, infringes European competition law.
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The current transfer rules, which are governed by FIFA’s Rules on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP), have been in force since 2001 after they were accepted by the European Commission.
Lawyers for FIFPro feel like the current system is anti-competitive because it puts an unreasonable amount of power on top-flight clubs (i.e. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, etc.) who can afford to pay these huge transfer fees.
FIFPro says it wants to encourage respect of contract and it wants penalties for early termination to be the same for players and clubs.
Theo van Seggelen, secretary general of the union, told Dutch broadcaster NOS: “We have consulted with the clubs, but we have not come to a solution”.
The big losers, according to FIFPro, will be agents.
It has also led to almost all the world’s top players becoming concentrated in a handful of leagues – in England, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
It believes players do not have the same rights as other workers and has proposed the abolition of the current transfer system, which could mean transfer fees would become a thing of the past.
Their statement said that, while players in the United Kingdom had a “secure and positive environment”, that was not the case everywhere.
European soccer’s ruling body UEFA, which organises the showpiece Champions League competition, hoped the matter could be settled outside the courts.
“If the agents are going to decide where a player is going to play because a club will give him €20million, that is a problem we have to tackle”, Van Seggelen said.
However, Simon Chadwick, a professor of sports business strategy and marketing at Britain’s Coventry University, said it could have the opposite effect to what FIFPro intended. “The ones undermined are many and we now call for change”. Another view is that markets are unpredictable, hence the old certainties many in football are used to could disappear.
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“We are responsible to safeguard the future of football”. We also need stability – you can make the contracts one, two, three or four years.
