By Mark Baber
July 28 – FIFPro the international player union, has revealed talks are now taking place to achieve regulation of transfer prices. Pricing is a key issue within the reform of a transfer system that FIFPro believes is long overdue.
Talks with FIFA regarding the reform are believed to have reached an advanced stage. Back in March FIFPro Secretary General Theo van Seggelen said: “We are firmly committed to either replacing the current system or reforming it down to the principles by which it operates.”
While discussions were initially slower than FIFPro had hoped, FIFPro acknowledged FIFA’s proposal to set up a Working Group on Transfer Matters which “will look at adopting concrete proposals.” Since then things have been quiet, until now.
FIFPro again appear to be the prime movers behind bringing transfer fees into line, though support from governing bodies is not far behind. Various schemes have long been mooted to regulate tranfers, largely to prevent large amount of money going out of the game and into the pockets of agents.
A top FIFPro source was quoted as saying: “It is a hard problem to solve but there is a way to do it.
“You could take a player’s wage, the time left on his deal and his other commercial ‘worth’ and come to a total.”
FIFPro has officially supported player transfer reform since April, when a resolution was passed at the General Assembly of FIFPro Division Europe to pursue a legal strategy including talks with the European Commission.
In April, Bobby Barnes President of FIFPro Division Europe, said, “Without being complacent, although the western league structures have good, strong agreements, we still see some 28% of transfer revenues leaving the game through agents in recent figures published by FIFA.”
FIFPro objectives in player transfer reform include the strengthening player’s rights and economic freedoms as well as improving the sustainability and economic and competitive balance of football as well as eliminating inflated agent fees and third-party ownership.
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