By David Owen
March 11 – FIFA has announced a change in the administrator of the Club Protection Programme (CPP), the scheme designed to remove a longstanding bone of contention by compensating clubs when players they employ are injured on international duty.
As of March 1, the claims process is being managed by QuestGates UK Limited. FIFA specified in a circular letter to national associations that claims relating to matches played in 2018 or the recent Asian Cup “must still be reported through Broadspire”. No explanation for the switch is given. A business review in QuestGates’ financial report for the year to end-June 2018 talks of “focus on innovation and service delivery supported by heavy investment in bespoke technology”.
FIFA states that the 2019-22 programme includes “some improvements in the compensation cover for clubs”, relating to “the removal of certain cover exclusions”.
Scrutiny of the technical bulletin for the 2019-22 scheme suggests that the actual compensation terms remain essentially unchanged from the original programme approved at the 2012 FIFA Congress in Budapest, however.
Once again, the temporary total disablement of a player accidentally hurt in an international match can trigger payments capped at €7.5 million per claim. The amount insured is the player’s annual fixed salary, with a maximum daily amount of €20,548 for a maximum period of 365 days.
The maximum capacity of the new CPP is set at €80 million per annum. Disablement by heart attack or stroke is included.
The salary structure of modern football means that the big West European-based clubs are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries of the renewed scheme.
Analysis of the first 80 CPP cases, contained in FIFA’s 2013 financial report, showed that no less than 98% of the money paid out to that point had gone to clubs in Europe, where the vast majority of the best-paid players in the world still play their club football. Of the first €27 million in compensation, no less than €26.4 million went to European clubs, with €400,000 going to clubs in North and Central America, and €100,000 each to those in Africa and Asia.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1735454786labto1735454786ofdlr1735454786owedi1735454786sni@n1735454786ewo.d1735454786ivad1735454786