By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 17 – The Czech Football Association (FACR) has unveiled plans to implement a number of measures to enhance the legal protection of footballers whose clubs encounter financial difficulties and leave players unpaid but tied to their clubs.
After much debate, the association has decided that Czech-based footballers will remain self-employed, as is the case in a number of other Eastern European countries, such as Croatia and Ukraine, reported local daily Mlada fronta DNES.
Under the new regulations, which are expected to come into force this April, footballers employed by Czech sides will be able to terminate their contracts if their clubs fail to pay 100% of their salary over a period of three months. In addition to this, all footballers will sign the same standardised contract form which will be provided to Czech sides.
The move has been praised by local observers.
“This represents a major step towards enabling [the Czech Republic] to become a civilised country for footballers,” said Dominik Rodinger, the sports manager of the Czech Footballers’ Association (CAFH). “Players will have more protection, and they will be enabled to focus more of their efforts on football.”
With Czech-based footballers set to remain self-employed, local sides will continue to be exempted from covering the players’ taxes, social and health insurance contributions.
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