Brussels, 01/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The proposals announced on Thursday by the International Football Federation, FIFA, to modify the player transfer system "are a step in the right direction", announced Christophe Forax, spokesperson for the European Commissioner responsible for Sport,, Viviane Reding, on Friday. These proposals that "we have not yet seen, but that we will carefully study (..) show that there exists a will to find a solution and we will thus reach it", he added. Commissioner Reding and the Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti, should discuss the dossier next Wednesday, indicated Mrs Reding, on Thursday.
Gather on Thursday with representatives from the European Football Federation (UEFA), player federations and national federations, FIFA thus put together proposals to answer the Commission's complaint which considers the player transfer fee system to be in breach of European rules on the free movement of people and agreements. Tackling issues the of protection of young players, compensation for training clubs and unilateral termination of a contract by a player, FIFA defined the following principals: 1) players under the age of 18 cannot be transferred at an international level, 2) training clubs must gain training compensation for the transfer of players between the ages of 18 and 24, 3) professional players will have to remain under contract with a club for at least one year, to avoid mid-season transfers, 4) "a systems should be set up that would regulate compensation issues in case of contracts rescinded before they expire", according to the terms of the FIFA press release. National federations will have to "create a framework of clauses that give players and clubs as few reasons possible to be tempted to terminate a contract prematurely", indicated the press release, adding that "the international professional players union, FIFPRO insisted that players - in their capacity as employees - should also be assured certain rights and adequate protection".
These guidelines will have to specified in the framework of a FIFA task force that should continue it work on 6 September. "The questions of methods and criteria for fee calculations still have to be specified by the task force", indicates FIFA. FIFA underlines in its press release that during its talks with the Commission, the European executive had assured that the contracts underway would remain valid and the modifications to the transfer system could be incorporated to a transition period.
These guidelines should be formally presented to the Commission in mid-September. For the time being, the European executive thus refuses to comment. However Mrs Reding's spokesperson insisted on the fact that "the calculation of the transfer fee must be in accordance with national labour law" concerning contract terminations. As for the training compensation for players between the ages of 18 and 24, "it will be necessary to examine the details of the methods for the calculating of compensation. For example, it is not a question of taking into account the additional value of player who is not linked to training", indicated the spokesperson.
Furthermore, "the banning of transfers for players who are under 18 could pose a problem", felt Christoph Forax before the press. On Thursday, Commissioner Reding spoke out against the "scandalous system that allows to use players as objects for speculation and to import young African players and then throw them into the street without any other training, if they do not perform well on a sporting level". Though, the FIFA guidelines would at first sight seem, "a bad answer to a good question", felt Mrs Reding's spokesperson. By banning transfers before 18 year, "we risk totally removing from young Africans or Latin Americans the opportunity of working in Europe (…) the right answer would rather be to support these young players and provide them with training and not prevent transfers".
Defending himself from attacks against the intransigence in the sporting world, notably in the recent statements by the President of Bayern Munich, Franz Beckenbauer, the Commission states that it support the rights to free movement and the right to work and that they apply to everyone. "The Commission only intervenes under the wing of the right to competition to avoid abuses of power and under the right to free movement because professional footballers are workers who must have the same rights as others", announced Commissioner Viviane Reding on Thursday. See following article for statements on other aspects of current sporting news.