In an effort to ensure that clubs honour and comply with the maintenance of contractual agreements, the World football governing body FIFA has introduced a raft of new regulations aimed at addressing circumstances of terminating contracts due to overdue salaries.
In a letter dated 26th April 2018 after its recent council meeting that was held in Bogota, Colombia on the 16th March 2018, FIFA says clubs could face a ban from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally for failure to honour contractual agreements.
Part of the letter forwarded to FIFA affiliates reads ‘’the amendments in question mainly concern the relationship between professional players and clubs and one of the central pillars of the Regulations, the maintenance of contractual stability between the two parties”.
This season, Kgatleng giants Mochudi Centre Chiefs, Extension Gunners, Gaborone United and Gilport Lions are among clubs that faced scrutiny over the welfare of their players. Last year, relegated Gilport Lions had to part with majority of their players due to unfulfilled promises.
With concern to the regulations on the status and transfer of players, article 14 has been amended with an addition to address specific circumstanceS of terminating contracts due to overdue salaries.
The amendment of article 14.2 reads that ‘’any abusive conduct of a party aiming at forcing the counterparty to terminate or change terms of the contract shall entitle the counterparty (a player or club) to terminate the contract with just cause.
Among the amendments, Article 14b reads ‘’in the case of a club unlawfully failing to pay a player at least for two monthly salaries on their due dates, the player will be deemed to have a just cause to terminate his contract, provided that he has put the debtor club in default in writing and has granted a deadline of at least 15 days for the debtor club to fully comply with its financial obligations”.
For article 17 of the regulations, the amendments have been made to address calculation of compensation for breach of contract without just cause.
The new provisions also grant FIFA’s decision making bodies, including Players Status Committee and the Dispute Resolution Chamber, the power to impose sanctions on clubs and players should any monetary decisions not be compiled with. The amendments made by FIFA will come into effect on the 1st June 2018.
