By Andrew Warshaw
April 11 – Football disputes, such as late transfer payments, could in future be fast-tracked by clubs themselves rather than be dealt with by FIFA or the sporting courts.
insideworldfootball has learned that Europe’s leading clubs are discussing setting up their own mediation system to deal with inter-club quarrels, in order to get them resolved quickly rather than face long delays.
The process, understood to be starting with a year-long experimental pilot, is being put together by the European Club Association (ECA) that represents some 200 clubs and whose board meets in Zurich tomorrow.
Currently, any major impasse is handled by FIFA’s internal committees, with appeals going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
But the ECA has insisted some cases take far too long to resolve.
“What we are trying to do is have a mediation service for when there are quarrels between two ECA teams,” said ECA vice-chairman Umberto Gandini (pictured above, on left).
“So, for instance, if there is a case whose destiny is to go to FIFA’s dispute resolution chamber and then eventually maybe be decided by CAS, the idea is to have a panel of ECA advisers to mediate.
“The idea is simply to speed up the process in order not to waste so much time.”
Gandini stressed the ECA wants the process to be “in full accordance with the governing bodies.”
But however practical the idea is on paper, FIFA could well take the view that its power base is being further weakened by the clubs, an issue that has long troubled its President, Sepp Blatter.
But Gandini countered: “It can only really benefit them.
“If, say, one club owes another money from a transfer, instead of going to FIFA straight away it would go to the ECA mediation office.”
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