FIFA grants
Not good to take
A few days ago, fifa official website released a report on the implementation of the FIFA Fund for Football Players to partially compensate players who cannot receive salaries due to club bankruptcy and other reasons. Among them, three players registered with the Chinese Football Association received $98,000 in compensation. This has aroused widespread concern in China, with many people reminding Chinese players who are currently underpaid to apply to FIFA. However, in the current situation, the vast majority of players in domestic football who are owed salaries do not meet the application conditions, and it is difficult to obtain partial compensation from FIFA.
1
What is a "Player Fund"?
The FIFA Players Fund is a project launched jointly by FIFA and the International Professional Players' Union (FIFPRO) and was established in 2020 to provide financial assistance to players who do not have a salary and cannot receive a salary agreed with the club. As part of the launch of the programme, FIFA has come up with a total of $16 million, divided into four application phases: the first phase from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2020, for a total of $5 million, the second phase from July 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020, for a total of $3 million, and from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 for the third phase, for a total of $4 million The fourth phase from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022, totals $4 million. At present, the application for the first two periods has been closed and has been approved and issued by FIFA. The announcement issued by FIFA this time is to inform the distribution of the first two stages.
According to a report released by FIFA on April 7, more than 1,000 players received assistance from the fund in the first phase of the application, and 142 players from 39 clubs in 22 FIFA member associations submitted applications in the second phase, of which 140 players were approved. The top 10 member associations with the highest number of approved members include the Hellenic Football Federation (58 members), the Serbian Football Federation (17 members), the Russian Football Federation (13 members), the Portuguese Football Association (10 members), the Kazakh Football Association (7 people), the Maldives Football Association (6 members), the Moroccan Football Association and the Albanian Football Association (4 members each), and the Chinese Football Association and the Belarusian Football Association (3 members each). The 3 million U.S. dollars in aid funds for this phase are distributed as follows: UEFA $2.44 million, AFC $332,000, AFRICAN Football Federation $182,000, and South American Football Federation $40,000. Among them, the three people registered with the Chinese Football Association received a total of 98,000 US dollars in aid funds.
EMILO Silvero, CHIEF LEGAL ADVISER OF FIFA, said: "The FIFA Players Fund plays an important role in protecting players in need and we look forward to entering the second half of the project with the FIFA Steering Committee to continue to provide the necessary support to the key players (players) in football." At the same time, we have also taken concrete measures in recent years to further improve the legal framework and strive to solve the problem of player salary arrears. Roy Verme, legal director of fifa's steering committee, said: "The FIFA Players Fund has once again proved to be an important guarantee for professional players around the world. It is difficult for players to encounter a situation where they are deprived of their due salary. FIFA agreed to set up the fund as a change for many players and should serve as a model for other countries or regions of football governing bodies. ”
2
There are five major criteria for applying for compensation
It is precisely because three players registered with the Chinese Football Association have received a total of $98,000 in compensation, which has aroused widespread interest in China, and even encouraged Chinese players who are currently underpaid to boldly make similar demands to FIFA. Moreover, this seems to have given the Chinese players who were owed wages a new hope.
However, in terms of FIFA's announcement alone, FIFA did not indicate whether the three players registered with the Chinese Football Association who were compensated were Chinese local players or foreign players, and because there is no personal specific information and identity, it is not clear which club the local players who have received compensation come from, so to a large extent, there is no reference for the large number of Chinese players who are currently owed wages. Of course, FIFA's announcement is actually more to convey the message that the current players who suffer from salary arrears in the world may not be a minority, and FIFA has also come up with real money to help some players solve the actual problems and situations of salary difficulties.
If you further examine the relevant FIFA documents, you can see the cruel reality that the vast majority of Chinese professional players who are owed wages basically do not have the possibility of proposing compensation from the fund to FIFA. Because from the FIFA Protocol Governing the FIFA Fund for Football Players, published by FIFA in June last year, it is clear that only players who have been owed wages who meet the following five criteria can claim compensation from the fund. Moreover, compensation is specifically divided into two categories: one is more than $50,000, the maximum amount does not exceed $100,000, and the other is less than $50,000. Of course, a player whose salary is owed can apply for compensation repeatedly.
So, what are the contents of these five standards? These include:
1. The club (during the execution period) belongs to a member association, and the player and the club clearly state the amount of remuneration in the employment contract, and the player is owed all or part of the remuneration.
2. The player has received a final and legally binding decision made by the judiciary that he or she is no longer able to receive all or part of the remuneration from the original club. This includes, but is not limited to, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the decision-making bodies of member associations (e.g. the National Dispute Resolution Chamber), the decision-making bodies of FIFA, and the National Or Special Tribunals. In exceptional cases, the Steering Committee may deviate from or disregard this guideline.
3. The club must have been formally recognized or declared by the appropriate national or international authority: it is legally or economically impossible for the player to recover unpaid remuneration through any legal or conventional means. This includes, but is not limited to, where the club has been declared insolvent; where the club has been liquidated; where the club is in bankruptcy. In exceptional cases, the Steering Committee may deviate from or disregard this guideline.
4. As a counterpart to Article 3 above, the club must have been deregistered from the member association to which it belongs, and the player has received the final, legally binding decision. or, as described in article II above, can no longer be enforced through a tribunal or special tribunal at the national or international level.
5. Players have exhausted all national or international sports and judicial procedures, and it is no longer possible to recover unpaid salaries through normal legal procedures. This includes, but is not limited to, applications have been made to national and/or international economic protection funds.
If a player who is owed a salary meets the above five conditions or criteria, the player can go to the official FIFA website, fill in the relevant information, and formally apply to the "FIFA Player Fund". The Steering Committee, which is then jointly formed by FIFA and the International Professional Players' Union, reviews and makes a final decision.
3
There are very few qualified people in China
Comparing the above five criteria, it is not difficult to find that as far as the domestic professional players who are currently owed wages are concerned, the vast majority of them are probably not in line with the above situation. Because the vast majority of chinese players who are currently underpaid still exist in the clubs signed, still belong to the registered clubs of the Chinese Football Association, and are still preparing for the third-tier professional league in the new season. In this case, the player whose salary is owed does not meet the provisions of Article 3 and is not eligible to apply for compensation. This is one of them.
Second, even if guizhou clubs like Guizhou clubs that have not passed the Chinese Football Association's access standards will not be eligible for the new season's professional league, because there is no final decision from the corresponding national legal body, the players have not received the final ruling from the corresponding national legal departments or agencies, and the players cannot provide supporting materials to FIFA, so they will not be recognized by the "FIFA Player Fund".
Of course, since FIFA mentioned in its april 7 announcement that three players registered with the Chinese Football Association have been compensated, because there is no further clear information, it remains to be further understood under what circumstances Chinese players can officially apply for compensation to the FIFA Player Fund.
It has to be said that the domestic football world is still a blank in terms of football justice. In the development of professional football in China, there are still many legal gaps that need to be filled. Moreover, like the FIFA Player Fund is a project plan jointly launched by FIFA and the International Professional Players Union, and The development of Professional Football in China so far, not to mention the organization of the Professional Players Union, even an organization like the Professional League is still only in the preparatory stage, so it is probably impossible to protect the interests of players. However, as a vulnerable group, players need to be protected more.