Players to get more power from new FIFA contract rules

Players are getting more power from FIFA to leave soccer clubs that delay paying salaries or mistreat them.

New rules announced Monday will soon let players cancel their contracts and sign with another club if they go unpaid for two months, or if employers abuse them with tactics such as orders to train alone.

The changes were confirmed by FIFA and FIFPro, the global group of player unions, as they signed a six-year working agreement.

The Netherlands-based FIFPro, which represents more than 60,000 players worldwide, also agreed to withdraw a complaint about the transfer system it filed to the European Commission in September 2015.

“While clubs in the richest leagues invariably treat players well, there are other leagues in which the employment rights of footballers are routinely ignored,” FIFPro president Philippe Piat said.

In some cases, players have been tied to clubs that fell months behind in paying salaries, and have been harassed with tactics designed to intimidate them into leaving or signing contracts on less favourable terms.

Clubs face FIFA imposing an immediate transfer ban if they fail to pay compensation awarded to players, which could amount to six months of salary.

Research by FIFPro in 2016 showed 41 per cent of thousands of players surveyed had been paid late in the previous two years. Players have also now been promised faster rulings, and tribunals in more countries, to settle contract disputes faster and more fairly.