FIFPRO is appalled by the employment situation of professional footballers in Romania and the lack of urgency shown by the country’s football association (FRF) to find adequate solutions for this disturbing situation.
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FIFPRO is today publishing a set of recommendations to rebuild and strengthen the professional football industry during the pandemic, at the same time as protecting jobs, careers and the wellbeing of players.
FIFPRO is campaigning to alert professional footballers to the danger of fake agents and scammers in the game.
Clubs and player unions through their representative bodies – ECA and FIFPRO – have developed international guidelines on player health protection during the emergency calendar of football competitions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
FIFPRO is today launching Raising Our Game, a forward-thinking report about women’s professional football which puts players at the heart of the planned development and rebuilding of the sport after the coronavirus pandemic.
A new FIFPRO paper warns that the growth of professional women’s football and evolution into a strong and viable industry is threatened by the implications of Covid-19. The absence of basic worker protections and global industry standards for working conditions in women’s football also mean the livelihoods of female players are extremely vulnerable.
We fully support the decisions by UEFA and CONMEBOL to postpone respectively Euro 2020 and the Copa America in order to protect public health and free up time to finish the national football leagues which are currently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The racist abuse towards FC Porto player Moussa Marega highlights once again the failure to protect professional footballers from discrimination and racial vilification.
FIFA and FIFPRO have reached an agreement to establish the FIFA Fund for Football Players (FIFA FFP), which aims to provide financial support to players who have not been paid and have no chance of duly receiving the wages agreed with their clubs.
FIFPRO has underlined its commitment to player activism after the International Olympic Committee released guidelines, clarifying that athletes are subject to sanctions by making political gestures on the podium, in the Olympic village, at the opening and closing ceremonies, or on the field of play.
FIFPRO is launching a Global Player Council to strengthen the role of professional footballers in shaping their industry at an international level.
FIFPRO today stresses once again that any plans to change the men’s or women’s International Match Calendar must address the players’ concerns such as an expanding workload at the top of the game, the need to protect and improve jobs for the majority of our members around the world and protecting the promising advancement of the women’s professional game. Proposals isolating further expansions such as a biennial World Cup – as well as other competition reforms under discussion – are inadequate in the absence of solutions for existing problems. Without the agreement of the players, who bring all competitions to life on the pitch, no such reforms will have the required legitimacy.
FIFPRO lawyers are assisting the family of the late professional footballer Chineme Martins to pursue a claim for negligence.
Bosnian player union SPFBiH came to the rescue when an owner left a prominent club and its players in serious problems. The union managed to safe a significant part of players’ salaries, supported new ownership for the club and helped change disciplinary regulations.
FIFPRO welcomes the ruling to dismiss the appeal of Keramuddin Karim, the former president of the Afghanistan Football Federation who misused his position to sexually harass and abuse female players.
FIFPRO and affiliated national player associations surveyed 1,602 professional footballers in countries that had implemented drastic measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus such as mass home-confinement. 1,134 male players, with a mean age of 26, and 468 female players, with a mean age of 23, took part in the survey.
FIFA and FIFPRO, the World Players’ Union, have reached an agreement to establish the FIFA Fund for Football Players (FIFA FFP), which aims to provide financial support to players who have not been paid and have no chance of duly receiving the wages agreed with their clubs.
Governments, employers, player associations as well as sports bodies should promote all forms of social dialogue, including collective bargaining, to improve working conditions for professional athletes worldwide. That is the main conclusion of the first forum on Decent Work in Sport organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
FIFPRO demands that Theodoros Karipidis and Angelos Charisteas, respectively the president and the sporting director of Aris FC, immediately stop the abusive and discriminatory treatment of Alejandro Menendez.
FIFPRO is issuing a warning to players about Turkish football because of an increasing number of cases in which clubs are defaulting on salary payments.
5th Sports Law Arbitration Moot (SLAM)