A legal guide to solidarity payments in football under the FIFA Regulations
Published 18 December 2015 By: Andrew Smith
Article 21 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (“RSTP”)1 is entitled “Solidarity mechanism” and provides as follows:
“If a professional is transferred before the expiry of his contract, any club that has contributed to his education and training shall receive a proportion of the compensation paid to his former club (solidarity contribution). The provisions concerning solidarity contributions are set out in Annexe 5 of these regulations.”
Solidarity payments will only be payable if:
- Upon the international transfer of a player between professional clubs; and,
- A player is transferred for a fee, between clubs belonging to different national associations, prior to the expiry of his employment contract.
Solidarity payments will be a maximum of 5% of the agreed transfer compensation.
This guide provides answers to following question regarding Solidarity payments:
- What solidarity payment(s) are payable, and to whom?
- What is the process for making the relevant payment(s)?
- What if a player is signed on loan?
- What happens if a player’s training history cannot fully be ascertained?
- Timeframe for making solidarity payments
- Disputes regarding solidarity payments
This article is based on a previous article by the author 'A guide to training compensation and solidarity payments in football'.
Get access to this article and all of the expert analysis and commentary at LawInSport
Already a member?
Articles, webinars, conference videos and podcast transcripts
Copyright notice
This work was written for and first published on LawInSport.com (unless otherwise stated) and the copyright is owned by LawInSport Ltd. Permission is granted to make digital or hard copies of this work (or part, or abstracts, of it) for personal use provided copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, and provided that all copies bear this notice and full citation on the first page (which should include the URL, company name (LawInSport), article title, author name, date of the publication and date of use) of any copies made. Copyright for components of this work owned by parties other than LawInSport must be honoured.
- Tags: Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) | Employment Law | FIFA | FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber | FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players | FIFA Training Compensation System | FIFA's International Transfer Matching System (TMS) | Football | Governance | Regulation | Training Compensation
Related Articles
- The on-going football dispute over training compensation and player loans: Panionios -v- Parana
- The on-going football dispute over training compensation and player loans II: Dundee Utd -v- Club Athletico Velez
- Football’s International Loan regulations: the ‘Wild West’?
- Key case law on attempts to circumvent FIFA’s Training Compensation System
Author
Andrew Smith
Andrew is a barrister practising from Matrix Chambers in London. He is an employment law specialist, and has a keen interest in sports law and sport generally. His Matrix profile (including Directory recommendations) may be viewed here.