AGREEMENT BETWEEN FIFA AND FIFPro ON A PACKAGE OF FOOTBALL GOVERNANCE GLOBAL MEASURES

6+5, specificity of sport, players' status, etc

BUDAPEST - Tuesday, 24 November 2009

At its annual congress, which took place in Budapest from 18 to 20 November 2009, the International Federation of Professional Footballers' Associations, FIFPro, reviewed the current state of world football. FIFPro welcomed representatives of FIFA to Hungary, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding signed in Barcelona on 2 November 2006.

The FIFPro delegates expressed their satisfaction at the results obtained to date from the cooperation with FIFA to protect football and the players.

FIFA and FIFPro have thus reaffirmed their joint conviction that only a global package of football governance measures can defend and promote the game's universality and the integrity and unpredictability of competition.

The same applies to the balance between football stakeholders, which is in the interest of all concerned, the training of young players, club football and national team football.

FIFPro supports the following measures and reforms implemented or planned by FIFA:

  • - Improving the situation of players through the general application of the "minimum contractual requirements" set forth in FIFA circular no. 1171 of 2008 to come into force in member associations as soon as praticable
  • - Efforts to establish national dispute resolution chambers, the organisation and composition of which guarantee balance and representation for players and clubs as well as the monitoring by FIFA and FIFPro of the criteria of their establishment
  • - The Win in Africa with Africa initiative seeking to develop African competitions with the involvement of players' associations from FIFPro Africa
  • - The supervision of the naturalisation of players
  • - The defence of the principle of promotion and relegation
  • - The electronic logging of player transfers (transfer matching system)
  • - The protection of players against third-party influence
  • - The amendment of the FIFA Players' Agents Regulations with a view to better regulating mediation between clubs and players and achieving greater transparency and solutions for current problems (conflicts of interest, protection of minors, money flows, etc.)

    Furthermore, FIFPro has asked FIFA to insert into its regulations the clearly defined jurisprudence of the Dispute Resolution Chamber prohibiting unilateral clauses in employment contracts.

    In addition, according to FIFA and FIFPro, the specificity of sport enshrined in art. 165 of the Lisbon Treaty does not seek to limit footballers' rights under employment legislation and its specific content can only be defined through dialogue, consultation and negotiation between footballing institutions and stakeholders, chief among which are the players.

    In 2006, FIFPro and FIFA agreed that the following points merited "specific" treatment (art. 2.6 of the 2006 agreement):

  • - Measures against the multiple ownership of clubs
  • - Provisions for the protection of youth players
  • - Protection of national teams by FIFA introducing, over several seasons, the 6+5 system regarding eligibility for national teams
  • - Centralised sale of television rights and protection of the existing solidarity mechanisms when the sale of these rights is conducted in an individual manner
  • - Systems for club licences and appraising the management of licensed clubs
  • - Measures aimed at controlling betting and its influence on matches and competitions
  • - Regulations to govern the activities of certain football professions, such as agents.

    Finally, at the congress in Budapest, FIFA and FIFPro exchanged views on medical and health issues following a presentation by FIFA Chief Medical Officer Prof. Jiri Dvorak on anti-doping, injury prevention and specific medical issues.

    With regard to anti-doping, FIFPro and FIFA have the same objectives and also agree on the issue of whereabouts, in particular collective whereabouts under the responsibility of clubs and only during training and competition.

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