I have been delving further into the detail of FIFA’s new Club Protection Programme (CPP), the scheme designed to remove a longstanding bone of contention by compensating clubs when players they employ are injured on international duty.
I was concerned lest an unforeseen spate of injuries sent costs soaring to the point where they absorbed most or all of FIFA’s positive annual result. This stood at $89 million in 2012.
The world football governing body has now told me that they have moved to protect themselves against unexpectedly high costs.
As a result of this it estimates that the overall cost of CPP to FIFA between the scheme’s starting-point in 2012 until it ends on 31 December 2014 will be around $100 million.